


Of Wizards and Winchesters

by Brea45



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Supernatural
Genre: Family, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-27
Updated: 2017-06-27
Packaged: 2018-11-19 18:48:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 27,854
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11319438
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Brea45/pseuds/Brea45
Summary: Harry Potter, after defeating the Dark Lord and getting custody of his godson, has to move away from his family in order to save himself and Teddy. They end up in America where they get acquainted with American hunters and the Supernatural.





	1. Chapter 1

Harry only had a short time to process the final death of The Dark Lord Voldemort. Harry had thought, with a naiveté some would say uncharacteristic of a war hero, that he would finally be able to be happy. Marry Ginny, become an Auror with Ron, have lots of kids, have a family and a normal life, well normal for a wizard anyway. Unfortunately, happiness was a long time in coming.

The first indication of this was the way Ginny had become so distant with Him. Like her love for him had changed. She seemed to be all doe eyed for Neville, the hero who had slain the last Horcrux so gallantly, while Harry had been thought dead. So, even though he had promised to come back to her, she was already over him and onto other pursuits. Though he grieved the loss Harry did not begrudge her the happiness she so obviously felt over being with Neville.

Then, he found out that Ron didn't want to be an Auror, which was fine since it was Ron's choice, but within a few months the Head of the Auror department, and most other official in the ministry looked at him with distrust and fear. The Daily Prophet printed many interviews of the top officials thoughts of him. Harry was the one of the most powerful wizards in existence now, which was true but they assumed that it meant he was Dark or at least Darker than most other witches and Wizards, so his application for Auror training had been turned down again and again for various reasons: "It's too soon recover a bit first." " You need to pass your Newts." "We aren't taking new recruits at this time." But Harry knew. Being an Auror was a very political position and they couldn't be seen condoning the training of the most powerful wizard alive into a more effective one.

So Harry was back at square one, no girlfriend, no job, no prospects even, and the wizarding community was slowly starting to turn their backs on him.

Then there had been the bitter sweet moment that he realized that he didn't need a witch to have a child of his own, not since he was one of only a few living connections little Teddy Lupin had to family.

Andromeda had taken custody of him but when Harry visited she was looking more and more worn down. Eventually she told him of a curse she'd suffered that was slowly killing her. She wouldn't be able to look after Teddy for more than a few more years and most of that time would be spent in a hospital bed.

Harry was quick to take up the reigns for her and signed the proper paperwork within the week. Harry was now Teddy's father, and the Wizarding world thought them both unnatural things. Despite Harry ridding the world of a Dark Lord bent on world domination the people living in it hadn't changed much.

The day Harry decided to leave England for good was the day The Ministry of Magic attempted to take Teddy away from him. Three Auror, Two Ministry officials, and a handful of reporters showed up at the Burrow one bright summer day. Harry and Teddy had been staying there for a few weeks at the insistence of Molly Weasley who had "More than enough room," Until Harry could find a place of his own to stay.

Molly was the one to answer the door. "May I help you?" she asked far more polite and soft spoken after the death of one of her children.

"We are here to speak with Lord Potter-Black about his ward," a tall severe looking man said.

"Of course, come in. Harry is just upstairs playing with Teddy, I'll go fetch him while you all take a seat," Molly indicated the room behind her before walking up the long flights of stairs. The officials sat on the chairs that sat opposite a low table in the center of the room, while the three Aurors stood about the room in defensive positions.

Harry came walking down the stairs with eight month old Teddy cradled in his arms. The child had bright pink hair at the moment and was staring adoringly up at his Father. "Why are you here?" Harry asked, well used to these Ministry inquires over the last three months. Each visit became more and more frustrating as the Ministry asked over and over about reparations for damages caused by the final battle or for him to take care of rogue Death Eaters, even though they didn't want Harry trained as an Auror and refused to compensate him for his assistance.

"Please, have a seat Mr. Potter there is something of dire import we must discuss with you," a petite witch with ebony hair and olive skin asked as she waved her hand at the sofa.

Harry looked around the room, noticing the three Aurors instantly but did as he was told anyway. It wouldn't do to jump to conclusions. "That would be, Lord Potter," Harry said just to be cruel "What is this all about?" Harry asked as he settled Teddy onto his left arm instead of his right. So that if need be he could reach his wand and maneuver more easily.

"We have come to detain your ward because of his lineage, Mr. Potter, The Minister of Magic has just signed a bill that requires the imprisonment of all werewolves and their progeny given their status as…" the second official, a tall black man with blue eyes, started saying before Harry interrupted.

"There is no way you are taking Teddy from me," Harry was calm and cool on the exterior but his eyes were burning with rage.

"I'm afraid you have no choice Mr…" at Harry's glare the witch corrected herself "Lord Potter."

"You would have to pry him from my cold dead fingers first, _Miss,_ " Harry said with a sneer. All three Aurors pulled out their wands and were leveling them on Harry.

"Don't make this difficult, he is only a werewolf after all, no need for all this drama," the Auror by the door said with a snort as if Teddy weren't even a person but an animal to be put down.

Harry surprised them all by growling much like Remus would have done when anyone would threaten his family. "You will not lay one hand on my Son," the words were pressed out between clenched teeth.

"So be it," another Auror said and then several things happened at once, the Aurors all waved their wands and muttered binding spells, the Ministry officials ducked behind their chairs wide eyed, obviously not anticipating a struggle, and Harry pulled out the elder wand from the holster up his sleeve dodging the first two stunners and reflecting the last back at its caster.

'One down two to go,' Harry thought as Teddy started fussing in his arms. The child seemed to sense his guardian's distress. Harry sent off a few spells of his own, one silent stunner and a blasting hex. Spells started flying around the room in earnest as Teddy started wailing, catching the attention of the other residents of the house. It took no time for the others to enter the fray. Now the numbers were five to two, not counting the ministry officials who were next to useless in a firefight.

The last of the Aurors was subdued and the ministry officials stunned as well within a few short minutes with none of the Weasley's being harmed. "Merlin, is Teddy alright?" Molly exclaimed as the other crowded around Harry and the newborn.

"He's fine but he won't be for long if he stays in England," Harry said sadly as he rocked and cooed at Teddy trying desperately to calm the small bundle with, now, deep blue hair.

"They've finally done it then, they passed the anti-werewolf legislation?" Ron asked looking shaken at the thought.

Harry looked up and remembered Bill and his encounter with Greyback months before. "Bill should be fine Ron. He has the Goblins on his side," Harry said, trying to convince himself as much as his best friend.

George, who seemed to have gotten more level-headed and serious since Fred's death was the one who brought up the issue Ron had tried to avoid. "We need to get you and Teddy out of here, Harry. Out of Europe all together. Somewhere they won't think to look, or if they do they won't be able to do much about it."

Teddy finally calmed and Harry found himself walking to the stairs and up to the room he had been staying in, Percy's old one. Hermione just behind him trailed by Ron, Ginny, George and Mrs. Weasley. "I've been thinking about this since they mentioned the bill and I think that the safest place, relatively speaking, would be America. There isn't much of a magical government there, only the one colony in Salem and they have next to nothing in common with the Ministry here. I could floo there and gain citizenship with both the muggle and magical government without much hassle."

Everyone followed Harry up the stairs and into his room so the place was somewhat crowded when he began to magically pack his and Teddy's belongings. "Harry dear. you're not really going to leave are you?" this was said by Mrs. Weasley; the woman who had seen the dead body of her own child and many more of her friends over the last year.

Harry set the now dozing Teddy into his crib, being careful to avoid the various floating clothes and personal items that were packing themselves into a bottomless luggage case. Then he turned on the only mother figure he had known and saw her eyes tearing up.

"I can't think of anyone but Teddy now Mrs. Weasley. He's my responsibility now. I have to do everything I can to protect him," Molly nodded in understanding, though her eyes were slowly filling with tears.

"You keep in touch mate, give us updates on Teddy whenever you can even if we can't write back we want to hear from you," Ron said grasping his best friend's shoulder.

"You keep that little guy safe," Ginny said as she held onto her weeping mother.

George looked from Harry to the luggage and said. "You don't deserve all the things they've put you through, Harry. You saved the world, you saved my little sister. No matter what anyone says you are my brother and I only want you to be happy," George wrapped his arms around Harry squeezing tight.  "Go to America and be happy, Harry. That's all that matters." George then backed away holding Harry at arms length. "Take care, Harry."

Harry was the one with tears in his eyes now as he looked on his honorary family. "Thank, Mr. Weasley, Bill, Charlie, and Percy for being so great these last few months won't you?"

"O-Of course I will dear," Mrs. Weasley's voice hitched a little as she spoke.

The bags were almost packed by now, only a few stray items floating about in the air toward their locations. "I'll send pictures and write all that I can. I'll have to send them through Gringotts but you know how the goblins are with confidential information. I won't be telling you any specifics just in case though," Harry said picking up his now fully packed luggage bag and placing it on the floor so the wheels were on the floor and the handle was extended, then placed the baby bag over his shoulder as he picked up baby Teddy.

"Get a hold of Draco right after I leave. He's an expert at mental magic and he owes me a life debt. He'll be able to wipe all memory of you from the ministry's goons so you won't have too much to worry about from them. Tell him this will wipe our debt clear and he'll never have to hear from me again. Alright?" Harry asked as he prepared to leave.

"Yeah, you got it Harry," Ron said, though he hated Malfoy he knew they had no choice, none of them had the requisite skills to keep all this quite.

"Just stay out of his way when he's here and everything will be dealt with and you probably won't even see him leave. Keep safe all of you. If need be, bad mouth me to the press. I don't want any of you to have to get hurt because of me," They were all descending the stairs now single file.

"Right like we're going to condone everything the press says about you. We'll be fine, just like we have always been. Now get you arse moving Potter before we have to send you out ourselves," George said, a small bit of the mischievous smirk he had before Fred died back on his face.

Standing there, on the edge of the wards Harry felt as if he were on a precipice, between one life and the next. Little Teddy was squirming in his arms as the cool September air brushed his now honey colored hair around his sleeping face.

"I love you guys," were Harry's final words as he apparated Teddy and himself away.


	2. Chapter 2

Six years.

It hardly seemed that long since Harry had last seen England, and his family. He had kept up correspondence with them and it took nearly two years for the Ministry to stop actively looking for him. After which the Weasley's; now including Neville, who had married Ginny, Luna, who was engaged to George, and Hermione who was expecting her first child by Ron, could start writing him back themselves instead of through Bill and the Goblins. Harry smiled at the thought of all the life that had started springing up in the Weasley family recently. Bill and Fleur are now expecting their second child as well as Luna with her first.

Harry was currently sitting in a booth at the local bar in the small town where he and Teddy had settled three years ago; Red Lodge, Montana. Usually Harry wouldn't have chosen such a small town, too much risk of people realizing he and Teddy weren't exactly normal but Harry had met some nice vampires; one's that didn't feed on humans, oddly enough. Harry had decided to help them out in any way he could and had just ended up sticking around. Lenore was now a good friend, as well as the rest of her coven.

Over the years Harry had been successful in keeping their secret to himself and helped discourage the few hunters that had been sniffing around on occasion. Unfortunately you couldn't keep hunters away forever, especially when they were as persistent as this Gordan fellow that Harry had been watching out of the corner of his eye all night.

Harry's thoughts went out to his godson Teddy, who was sitting at home with more monitoring charms on him than Harry had ever put on him when he was a baby. Harry had become the characteristic overprotective parent since he left England. Havinghad had a few run-ins with demon-deal-witches and other supernatural's here would do that to any parent let alone a new one. So, even though Teddy was within apparating distance, Harry was constantly thinking about going back home and just jumping this sadistic hunter later.

Unfortunately Harry didn't think he could take on three hunters alone. Seems there had been a little meet and greet between Gordon and these other two while Harry had been busy at the hospital, Harry worked as a nurse in the emergency department. The work helped him with his 'saving people' thing and also allowed him to be really flexible with his hours, only working when Teddy was in school or with the Coven at night.

All three hunters sat around a table, Gordon and the shorter one drinking, while the taller one just looked pissed at the whole situation. They were all talking in low tones and were clear across the bar. But Harry just pulled out his wand, sure to keep it under the table, and cast an eavesdropping charm that George had mentioned in a letter last year. It worked brilliantly and Harry could now hear the conversation as if he had an Extendable Ear in his left ear.

"No, no I insist," Gordon said giving the waitress a few bills. The shorter hunter grinned as Gordon raised his glass. "Another one bites the dust."

Harry's heart seized at the words and his hand went to his phone automatically dialing Lenore's number. As he waited for her to pick up he continued to listen to the conversation.

"Dean," Gordon says to the shorter hunter he toasted with. "You gave that big-ass fang one hell of a haircut, my friend."

Harry's blood was boiling at the blatant disregard Gordon had at taking a life, even one that was a vampire. Harry felt his eye tearing up, wondering who exactly had been killed.

Taller one still looked uncomfortable and out of place. Lenore hadn't picked up her cell as he heard the voicemail beep.

"Lenore, he did it again. Round up the family and we'll get you somewhere safe. Call me."

Back to the conversation once again Harry heard Dean speaking "You alright, Sammy?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," He sounded anything but fine to Harry. He sort of sounded like Hermione in fourth year when Ron refused to ask her to the ball.

"Well, lighten up a little, Sammy," Gordon said grinning.

"He's the only one that gets to call me that," there was an edge to 'Sammy's' voice. Harry didn't doubt that if Gordon called him that again, fists were going to fly.

"Okay. No offense meant. Just celebrating a little. Job well done."

"Right. Well, decapitations aren't my idea of a good time, I guess," Harry liked this hunter. His moral compass seemed to be in the right place at least.

"Oh, come on, man, it's not like it was human. You've gotta have a little more fun with your job," Harry clutched his wand tighter when he heard that. Vampires may not be fully human but the way Gordon said it made Harry's lip curl.

"See? That's what I've been trying to tell him. You could learn a thing or two from this guy," Dean replied, obviously seeing Gordon as a role model of some sort. Whoever thought that had to be seriously messed up.

Sam looked between Dean and Gordon twice before replying "Yeah, I bet I could," There was a sort of hurt there. He looked up to Dean, or couldn't understand why he was taking Gordon's side, Harry really couldn't tell "Look, I'm not gonna bring you guys down. I'm just gonna go back to the motel."

Harry's phone vibrated on the table as Sam stood and left the bar. Harry lifted the phone with trembling fingers, dropping the charm to answer the phone, dreading the answer to the question of who in their family had been killed.

"Who?" He didn't even give Lenore a chance to say hello.

"Conrad," Lenore said voice cracking slightly.

"Oh, Merlin," Harry breathed trying to hold back a sob with his hand over his mouth. Conrad had been the gentlest man Harry had ever met, not that he couldn't defend himself, but he would have been no match for a group of hunters, even with his vampire abilities. How was Harry going to explain this to Teddy? This was a totally different circumstance than explaining to Teddy where his parents were, people that were only abstract concepts to a six year old who didn't even remember them. But Conrad had been real, had been like a big kid around Teddy, playing with him and babysitting. He had been the head of the coven, now though that would rest on Lenore's shoulders.

"Listen, Lenore, One of the hunters," Harry was thinking a mile a minute as he stood from the table, hardly noticing that Dean was staring at him as he left, catching a portion of his call. "He isn't as bad as the others. We may be able to convince him to leave you all alone," Harry paused as he shoved the door open and walked out the door, determined to find where the hunters were staying.

"Where are you?" She asked and Harry could hear Eli in the background shouting. He always was the hot head in the coven.

"Looking at our target getting a soda at the motel, get here as fast as you can."

"No problem we're only a block away," Harry smiled sadly; Lenore was doing well as the Coven leader already, anticipating danger like she was.

Harry hung up the phone after a short goodbye and watched as the tall hunter walked out into the parking lot. Harry was behind the bushes, with a notice me not charm for good measure. So there was no way for Sam to be able to see him, but apparently he felt someone watching because his body language changed from relaxed non-chalance, to cautious trepidation in less time than it took Harry to blink.

If the other two hunters were anything like this one, Harry and the Vampires had their work cut out for them.

Harry watched steadily as Sam walked around the lot, then back to his room, Harry knew Eli and Markus were already in there, Harry's position giving him a view of the back window where the vampires entered silently. Sam was still cautious as he entered the room. Harry's heart sped up as he heard a small scuffle inside. He was nearly to the door when the two carried an unconscious and blindfolded hunter out. Harry sighed in relief.

"I need to get home to Teddy, Markus, if there is anything that you guys need…help getting out of town or…" Harry was frowning and holding back tears again. Markus had been mated with Conrad; his death was going to be devastating once it finally kicked in.

"We'll be fine. You take care of your own family now. With you tracking them down…" Markus paused as they shuffled Sam into the back of the truck Lenore was driving.

"You're a target too, Harry," Eli finished for his distraught friend. Harry looked between the remaining members of the small humanitarian coven.

"Alright but you know my number," Harry embraced Eli who patted him on the back before sitting in the bed of the truck. "And I don't think I'll be staying too much longer either. This place won't be the same without you," Harry then embraced Markus who got in next to Lenore. Harry blew a kiss to Lenore. "Give me a call once you let him go. I want to make sure you're all ok."

"Of course Harry, you take care of yourself tonight, and thank you for the risk you took in spying for us."

Harry waved her off as he closed the truck door. It wasn't as if it had done any good. It didn't bring back Conrad, Tina, or Lucus. Lenore looked at him knowingly but he started walking toward the alley so he could apparate home. Nothing she would say or do would assuage the guilt Harry felt at the deaths of his friends. Nothing ever did.

A few hours later Harry was sipping at a glass of Firewhiskey, Teddy had been sleeping the entire time he was gone so Harry didn't bother waking him. The phone vibrated across the table. A text from Lenore WE'LL WAIT AND SEE popped up when Harry opened his phone. Things had gone better than he had hoped then. With a deep sigh Harry finished off the last swallow of his glass and trudged up the stairs to his bedroom, he could start packing in the morning.

Harry lay in his bed looking up at the ceiling for a long time. Sleep had always been elusive for him, now, after the war and with what was happening with Lenore, it was even harder to fall asleep. Harry tossed and turned in his bed and after about an hour fell into a fitful sleep.

_No, Dean that is not our job. Our job is hunting evil. And if these things aren't killing people, they're not evil! You don't think I can see what this is?_

Harry could hear Sam's voice in his mind, could see him standing in front of his brother arguing. Flashes and snatches of the conversation bombarding his mind

 _What are you talking about?_   That was Dean's voice and suddenly Harry could see them too, standing in the dim light of the parking lot.

 _He's a substitute for Dad, isn't he? A poor one._ Sam was angry and hurt and it wasn't just the frown on his face that told Harry that. He could feel it too.

 _You know what? I'm not even going to talk about this._ Vulnerable, too close to the truth, pain.

_You know, you slap on this big fake smile but I can see right through it. Because I know how you feel, Dean. Dad's dead._

Harry felt his own heart clench at the thought that these men, these brothers, had lost their father. No wonder Dean seemed so enamored with Gordon earlier.

_And he left a hole, and it hurts so bad you can't take it, but you can't just fill up that hole with whoever you want to. It's an insult to his memory._

Then Harry felt Dean punch Sam as if he had been the one punched and punching at the same time. Then his dream…vision changed scenery to Lenore and Eli arguing. So much pain and sorrow filled them at the death of their comrades that Eli was saying things he would have normally never said. Grief did that to a person. Then Eli was gone and Lenore was outside and Gordon was there behind her cutting her with a bloody blade

 _Dead man's blood, Bitch._ the word flowed through Harry like poison. Making skin burn where the blade contacted with it; weakness and lethargy pulsing through sluggish veins.

Harry woke with a start. "No," He whispered as the last vestiges of the dream/vision wore away. Sometimes he really hated the side effects that Voldemort's death had on his magic, awakening of long dormant parts of it once the Horcrux had been gone. Now though he thanked his lucky stars because he might just be able to save his friends this time.

With almost no thought Harry hurriedly pulled on a t-shirt over his bare chest, grabbed his wand from the bedside table, checked Teddy's monitoring charms quickly to make sure the child was still sleeping and apparated to Lenore's farm.

Harry found himself in the hallway just inside the door when he heard a gun cocking and the words, "Let him go," Harry looked to his left to see Gordon holding Sam, arm bloody, knife at his throat.

"Now!" Dean shouted raising his gun a little more.

Harry raised his wand before striding into the room. "I'd do as he said if I were you, Gordon."

Dean and Gordon turned their weapons on him. Harry didn't flinch. "You let Lenore and the others go, Gordon, or I swear I will break my oath and kill you where you stand."

"Harry," Lenore whispered. "Don't."

Harry glanced in Lenore's direction and saw how very bad off she was. Gordon hadn't been trying to kill her, he had been torturing her. Harry stared at her; visions of Olivander in the Malfoy cellar, of helpless muggles being beaten and tortured to death by blood thirsty Deatheaters. Harry's arm was trembling and the words to the killing curse were on his lips, green sparks falling from his wand.

"Don't," Lenore said again "Harry. Think of Teddy," That did it. Harry changed the intent of his spell seconds before he cast. _Incarsarus_ Gordon was now bound in magical ropes. Sam and Dean stood shocked and silent as Gordon struggled against his bonds.

"Get her out of here, Sam," Dean told his brother, as Harry stepped up to Gordon, eyes flashing with malicious intent.

"You have threatened my friends for the last time you piece of shit," Harry spat as he shoved Gordon to the floor. The hunter went down and the resounding thud of his head hitting the floor made Harry grin.

"Who the hell are you? Witches don't usually hang with vamps," Gordon was still as cocky as ever.

"I'm no demon-deal-witch. Though a few moments ago I came damned close," That was the price of the killing curse. It was a deal with the devil himself who would take a portion of your soul every time you used it. Harry sent a silent cutting Hex at Gordon's cheek for the insult.

"Hey man, I need you to step away from him real slow," Harry had forgotten that Dean was even there until he spoke. Harry looked over at the hunter; Dean had seemed to have lost his…admiration for the hunter at Harry's feet, though he was holding his gun straight at Harry now.

Harry glanced down at Gordon. This man had tortured Lenore, killed three of his friends and generally made Harry's nice normal life a living hell. Harry thought of just killing him the muggle way, wrapping his hands around the man's windpipe until he stopped breathing or better yet getting one of the vials of poisons he kept at home in the locked potions cupboard, slice the man's ebony skin with a knife dipped in basilisk venom just enough to cause pain but not death. Torture him like the man had tortured Lenore.

"Step away," Dean said again stepping closer, his voice stern and commanding.

Harry took a deep breath of the blood filled air and stepped back once, twice. Harry shuddered at how very hard it was to let this man go. Harry closed his eyes as he abruptly turned and left the two hunters there. Harry strode right past Lenore and Sam, who were sitting on the porch and strode out into the darkened yard. Harry was barefoot and the grass was wet and the night was cold, but none of it penetrated his mind as what he had almost done penetrated his mind.

Harry had almost used the killing curse. Lenore had been tortured, and he had been thinking about doing the same to Gordon. Harry rushed over to a nearby bush and promptly vomited the meager contents of his stomach. It took 5 minutes for Harry to stop retching. When he did he turned to his Vampire friend.

She looked horrible, pale, even for her, with deep dark circles under her glassy blue eyes. Her skin covered in red and black blood, her clothes were ripped in a few places and there were unhealed knife wounds all over her body. Harry approached cautiously. Sam was still a hunter, even if he didn't think the vampires were dangerous he might think Harry was.

Sam didn't say anything as Harry knelt in front of a dazed Lenore. Then, with tears in his eyes Harry placed his hand on Lenore's forehead and stomach. Lenore moaned in pain and protest but Harry held firm. Then the gashes on Lenore started to ooze deep black sludge, Lenore was shaking and convulsing, Sam yelled for him stop but Harry mentally put up a barrier between them. He was going to do this.

The sludge started running out of the wounds and then the gashes all along Lenore's exposed skin started disappearing one by one only to appear on Harry's only slightly darker skin. Sam was trying desperately to stop what Harry was doing but nothing the hunter did worked. After a few moments Harry pulled away, dropped the barrier, and promptly collapsed.


	3. Chapter 3

When Harry woke up he was in his bedroom, which was strange since he distinctly didn't remember going to bed. When he made to stand several areas of his body hurt, hurt in such a specific way that flashes of; Deatheaters, cutting curses, torture, and War, bombarded his mind so it wasn't all that surprising that when someone entered his bedroom Harry automatically reacted by shoving them against the wall physically, his magic had been so noticeably depleted that physical violence was his only choice in defending himself.

The new arrival was strong though, not like the wizards Harry knew, the man, shoved him, tripping him up and Harry soon found himself on the floor looking up at jade green eyes, a stubbled chin, and spiky blonde-brown hair. "Whoa, dude. Calm down," His voice was deep and had a slight southern drawl. Harry refused to surrender, still only seeing the tortures, The War, death. With preternatural speed he had honed as a seeker Harry rolled the two of them sprung to his feet and made a break for the the door, since that was the closest exit, only to run into another stranger this one far taller and with long brown hair and kind hazle-green eyes.

"Hey," the taller man said and then there were arms around Harry's biceps and he felt too confined too closed-in there was no air in the room and he had to get out but there was nowhere to go.

"Harry?" A soft voice called from down the hall. All three occupants of the room swiveled to see a sleepy eyed, 6 year old, with dark purple hair and monkey pajamas.

Harry was still breathing heavily and his eyes were wide with fright and he didn't seem to know who the kid was. Teddy seeing his guardian so distressed dropped the stuffed wolf he had been holding and rushed to Harry's side ignoring the unusual guests. "Harry, it's okay. It's Teddy. Remember? My Dad was Moony. Remember? The War has been over a long time. You beat him remember?"

The kid seemed to know instantly how to calm the distressed man as he spoke on and on of things neither Winchester could understand. What did come across though was that episodes like this were not uncommon and happened so frequently a six year old knew how to fix it. Sam had released Harry as soon as the kid had come over to them and Harry was now kneeling with his arms wrapped around the kid like he were a lifeline. Dean distinctly remembered doing that with John after particularly brutal hunts when he was a kid, Dean averted his gaze so that no one would see the tears gathering in his eyes.

"Teddy," Harry whispered as he drew back. "Sorry kiddo. I had a rough night," Harry gave a self deprecating smile as he cradled the kids face in his hands.

"Your hurt," Teddy said simply his hair changing from violet to magenta in less than a second. The change startled the brothers but they didn't comment.

Harry noticed their tensing though and his eyes widened. "Hey why don't you go down and watch some TV? Anything you want."

"You don't let me watch TV until after breakfast," Teddy said simply looking at Harry suspiciously. This kid was a sharp one.

"Yeah, well, I need to talk to these gentlemen and it's an adult conversation. I'll give you the run down after I'm done alright?" Harry seemed to be pleading.

"Alright as long as you have them fix you up," Teddy said walking down the hall.

"I'm fi…" Harry cut himself off as Teddy glared and his hair turned deep red. "Yeah alright I'll get them to help."

"You better or I'm going to tell Grandma Weasely about the time you went after that poltergeist in Sacramento," Harry looked indignant and spluttered but Teddy was already gone.

There was a lengthy silence before Dean spoke. "I get the feeling that kid is too smart for his own good."

"You have no idea," Harry said running his hands through his sleep mussed hair. Harry sighed and looked at the two practical strangers in his house. "Alright I need to get breakfast ready so let's do this whole…" Harry waved his hands in a confusing pattern. "thing, in my kitchen. I think better when I'm cooking anyway."

Sam shared a significant look with Dean and then they both nodded. "Sounds good to us, though the kid was right you need to get your bandages changed."

Harry noticed for the first time that the various lacerations had been patched up while he was sleeping. "Ahh…Yeah. Just…bathroom."

Harry led them through the long hallway to the last door on the left. Once inside Harry sat on the toilet as Sam took out the bandages and antiseptic. Dean asked Harry to remove his shirt. "We tried stitching you up but they just dissolved a few minutes after we put them in," Dean said as he started removing the old bandages.

"Yeah, magically induced, so muggle methods don't work, beyond basic bandaging," Harry commented refusing to look at the brothers as he was stripped bare in front of them.

"Muggle?" Sam asked handing his brother a rag to dab up the little rivulets of blood running down Harry's chest.

"It's what my people call non-magical people," Harry hissed slightly as Dean pressed against a particularly deep cut.

"Sorry," Dean said as he continued on without looking away from his task. "And what kind of thing are you? You mentioned you weren't a Demon-Deal witch but we haven't met any other kind."

Harry laughed half heartedly "I'm a wizard. I was born with my magic. Though last night I nearly became one of those demon deal witches."

"How's that?" Sam was bandaging Harry's arm while Dean was wrapping his chest.

"I was about to kill him, by using the one spell that would have sent me straight to hell when I died. That's the price you pay when you send someone else there by force. Two for one deal that one, though I guess it is if you don't use it more than once."

There was silence for a moment as Dean and Sam finished up with him. Without anything else to do Harry put his shirt back on and led the way down the hall and stairs to the combination kitchen dinning room.

The room was large and well light and furnished with very new looking appliances. This was Harry's sanctuary most of the time. Just after he got over one of his…episodes, he would always cook. Even as a child, cooking had been the one thing the Dursley's left him alone to do. Just for the fact that they were smart enough to see that distractions got their food burned or horribly mangled in some way.

Harry ignored everything in favor of washing his hands and beginning on the feast he planned to prepare, since he had guests he could actually cook without thought to leftovers or wasted portions. Several minutes later all 4 burners plus the oven were on and cooking some kind of food while Harry was preparing a fruit salad. Calmer now that he had food to prepare and somewhere to keep his eyes while he spoke Harry began the arduous task of finding out exactly what had happened after he passed out.

"What happened to Lenore?" Harry asked slicing up an apple and tossing it into the large bowl before squeezing a lemon over the top of it.

"She left, after you healed her, said to tell you she would call," Sam replied slightly in awe at how good of a multi-tasker Harry had to be in order to cook so many dishes at once.

"Gordon?" Harry stirred the scrambled eggs and flipped the bacon and sausage then flipped a finished pancake onto a plate and starting another.

"We left him tied up on the floor. We didn't know how long those magical ropes would last so we put on a few ourselves. We plan on letting someone know he's there after a few hours," Harry could hear Dean smirking.

"Good," Harry said distractedly as he processed all that. Lenore was safe, Gordon, not dead but subdued for now.

"So, you said you were born with your power, were your parents like you?" Harry flipped the pancake and sighed.

"Both my parents were like me," at the word 'were' Sam and Dean shared a look. "There is a whole community of Wizards over in England and one in Salem," Harry didn't want to go into too much detail but he got the impression these two wouldn't leave until they knew how 'good' he was. "We tend to keep a low profile."

"So you're what? Not evil?" Dean asked bluntly.

Harry laughed, but it wasn't a happy sound. "I try not to be," Harry said giving a self deprecating look to the hunters before turning off the oven and taking out the biscuits he had been baking and set them on a rack to cool. "My people are just as evil or good as any Muggle can be. We're as fallible as any other human in existence."

"Is Teddy like you are? We couldn't help but overhear some of the things he said; you're not his father so…" It was obvious that Sam was trying not to offend him or anything and was really embarrassed at having heard the private conversation.

"Yeah his parents were wizards to. They died when he was a month old, I'm his godfather, Well legally I'm his father," Harry started piling a platter with bacon and sausage. Then realized he hadn't really introduced himself in all the chaos of the morning, along with the fact that he had no idea how he got home.

Placing the platter on the table he started loading up another with eggs. "How did I get back here by the way?"

"I asked about you at the bar and got your address," Dean said unrepentantly snatching up a sausage from the plate, earning him a glare from his brother.

"Why?" Harry asked staring bewildered at the shorter hunter.

"As you were walking out..." Dean said through his food before swallowing. "I heard you say one of us wasn't as bad. That you could convince us of something. I was gonna pay you a visit last night, but Gordon ended up going after Lenore before I could."

"Oh," Harry said blinking as he placed the rest of the food on the table. He had thought he was being discreet but apparently peace times had dulled his skills. Harry then called for Teddy to come and eat.

"I never really properly introduced myself. My name is Harry James Potter-Black and this is Teddy Remus Lupin."

"Oh, right," Sam said extending his hand to first Harry then Teddy. "I'm Sam Winchester. This is my brother Dean," Dean didn't bother shaking their hands, since his fingers were all greasy so he just half saluted. Sam shook his head at his brother's lack of propriety and they all sat at the overloaded square kitchen table.

"Help yourselves there's plenty," Harry said unnecessarily, seeing as Dean was already stuffing his face.

"Thanks," Sam said with a smile.

"You're still hurt," Teddy observed as Harry loaded his plate.

"My reserves should be back enough for me to heal them in a few hours," Harry placed Teddy's plate back in front of him and then proceeded to fill his own.

"You shouldn't. You'll just get all sleepy again," Teddy said knowingly as he ate his pancakes.

"What do you expect me to do then Teddy?" Harry asked amused.

"Heal up the muggle way. Using your magic so much will just hurt you more."

Harry narrowed his eyes at the seven year old but relaxed back into his chair in defeat. Teddy was right.

They all ate, making small talk, Dean getting on extremely well with Teddy making him laugh and his hair turn sunny yellow. "What's up with your hair anyway? Harry said you're…wizards or something but his hair doesn't change like yours does."

Harry was beginning to realize that Dean was one of those people who asked very personal questions without really realizing they may be insensitive. "His mother was a metamorphmagus. Their able to change their physical appearance at will without a spell. Teddy is just a little young to learn to control it yet," Harry explained.

"He's a shapeshifter?!" Dean asked indignantly looking suddenly disgusted.

"If you wanted to be crude about it…" Harry started before Sam interrupted.

"He's not that kind of shapeshifter, Dean," Sam said with an annoyed frown. "Isn't it obvious? He hasn't shed his skin once and he's only what? Seven?"

Harry opened his mouth, shut it again and frowned. "What?"

Both Sam and Dean looked over at Harry who had the most perplexed expression on his face they had ever seen. "You're telling me you hooked up with a coven of vegan vamps, took out a top notch hunter and you don't know what a shapeshifter is?" Dean asked pointing a piece of bacon in his direction.

"Not the muggle kind, no. All the shapeshifters I know of have magic. I had no idea that non-magical people could do such a thing."

Dean snorted and shoveled more sausage into his own mouth. Harry was glad the men seemed to like his cooking.

"So since you've already given me the third degree do you think I could ask you two a few questions?" Harry asked pulling apart a piece of toast instead of actually eating it.

"Yeah, that seems fair. What do you want to know?" Sam asked.

"How long have you two been hunters? You seem like experts so I'm assuming a few years but…"

Sam sighed and looked at Dean before replying. "All our lives. Our Dad raised us to fight the supernatural."

Harry knew there was more to that story; he could clearly see pain in their eyes. Harry had seen that look a lot in his short life. Seeing that look reminded him of the vision he had last night. So their father had died fairly recently.

Harry averted his eyes from them; he could still feel the pain of that vision, the bone deep ache that came from losing a parent. Harry's gulp was audible as he tried to get a handle on his emotions.

"Harry?" Teddy asked placing his hand on his godfather's leg. "Why aren't you eating?"

"What?" Harry asked slightly dazed.

"You're not eating again," Teddy said pointing to the mutilated toast and nearly full plate of food.

"I…" Harry coughed uncomfortably. "I'm just not all that hungry I guess."

Teddy scowled. "You didn't eat dinner last night. So you should eat breakfast. Grandma Molly said you had to eat right to stay healthy."

Harry looked nervously between their guests and Teddy. "I know that kiddo but…" Harry took a deep breath. "I…something happened that is…I mean something happened to…" There were tears in Harry's eyes now; he had been trying desperately to hold back the anguish he had been feeling. He thought naively that after the war that neither of them would have to deal with the death of someone close to them again. "The coven was attacked. That guy I've been following…he killed Conrad, Tina, and Lucas," Harry ignored the fact that Dean had technically killed Conrad because Dean had only been following along with Gordon and just made a mistake in trusting someone.

Teddy looked disbelieving for a moment, not really understanding what Harry was trying to say, Dean and Sam had gone very still, Dean had stopped eating and Sam looked slightly pale. It seemed to Harry that maybe they hadn't realized that knowing the coven leader meant that he had been friends with the other vampires and not just Lenore.

After a few moments Teddy surprised them all by launching himself at Harry, landing in Harry's lap arms wrapped around Harry's, neck legs sprawled out, Teddy's hair now a somber black. "S'not your fault," the child murmured into Harry's neck.

The tears Harry had been holding back started falling down his cheeks and a broken sob bubbled up from his chest as he squeezed his godson back. Harry always regretted bringing his godson up to be so in tune with Harry's own emotions, moods, and problems. Felt he was somehow cheating him out of a normal childhood.

It took a moment for the two of them to separate from one another, Harry ruffling black locks until they turned a lighter brown.

"Thanks, little guy," Harry muttered to him with a grateful smile. Dean coughed uncomfortably and wouldn't look at them. "You finished eating Teddy?"

"Yeah, should I go get ready for Aunty Fluer's?" Teddy said with a kind of sad smile on his face.

"Oh Merlin! I totally forgot that you had a play date with Victorie today. Your grandma is going to kill me if we're late again!" Harry said fretfully standing from the table.

Teddy laughed, all thought of grief pushed aside for now until they could deal with it in private.

"Well, since you two will be busy, we better go," Sam said standing from the table at the same time that Dean did. Harry looked them over and got a very determined look in his eye.

"I'll walk you out. Teddy, you go up and get your bag ready. three toys, a change of clothes and that gift you wanted to give to Grandpa Arthur," Harry said as Teddy shot out the door and up the stairs to his room.

"You don't have to walk us out, really," Sam tried to protest but Harry just glared at him.

"I want to make sure that you understand that I don't blame you for what happened. You were just doing your jobs and got caught in something that was very unpleasant. Trust me, I know how it is."

Dean just grunted as he walked out the door.

"Yeah, I know that but try convincing Dean when he just realized not every monster out there is really a monster."

With a huff Harry chased after the older man and gripped his shoulder. Dean looked at him over his shoulder but didn't fully turn around. "When I was in school I was fighting in a war. I always thought that I knew who the evil ones were. That everyone that was fighting on my side was good and the one's fighting against me were evil. I learned the hard way that the people I thought of as inherently evil were just people who had made bad decisions, people who had kids and lives and loved ones. But in the end, I did what I had to, to save lives. That is all you were doing. And all you could ever hope to do. Nothing more, nothing less."

After Harry's little speech Dean turned fully to face him and they locked gazes. Their eyes were what set them apart from the normal people out there, the same eyes that Sam had, eyes that saw the darkness and fought against it no matter the personal sacrifice.

"Hey, Harry," Sam said breaking the staring contest. "If you ever need to get a hold of us, just call this number," Sam held out a card that said Detective Conroy and was embossed with the FBI logo on the right. "Ask for Bobby Singer and he'll be able to get a hold of us."

"Yeah sure, I might just send you a message here and there even," Harry smirked. "Don't be shooting any owls if their holding a letter."

Harry just laughed at the bewildered looks they gave him and waved them off so he could hopefully not be late for that play date.


	4. Sams Outtake

Sam tried to struggle against Gordon's grip but was too worries about the knife at his throat to do much of anything. Then there was someone else in the room with them. A man with black hair and blazing emerald eyes that took one look at Lenore and pointed some kind of stick at Gordon. "I'd do as he said if I were you, Gordon."

Gordon released his grip on Sam's arm and leveled his knife on the new arrival along with Dean.

"You let Lenore and the others go Gordon or I swear I will break my oath and kill you where you stand" The cold fury in the man's voice sent a chill down Sam's spine.

"Harry," Lenore whispered brokenly. "Don't."

Harry glanced at Lenore and there was so much pain and fear and heartache in those eyes that there had to be more to this than just seeing someone tied up and tortured. The hand grasping the stick trembled slightly and was glowing a sickly green.

"Don't," Lenore said again "Harry. Think of Teddy," And whoever Teddy was made Harry close his eyes briefly before the light from the stick turned bright yellow.

"Incarcerous," Harry shouted as he waves the stick in a complicated pattern and ropes shoot out and rapidly wrap themselves around Gordon pinning his arms to his sides and making him drop the knife he was holding.

"Get her out of here, Sam," Dean ordered his pistol still trained on the man-witch. Sam didn't hesitate as he lifted the limp vampire into his arms and left the room. As he was leaving he heard Harry call Lenore family, no wonder the man was so distraught at seeing Lenore like that.

Sam's mind was racing as he set Lenore down on the steps of the porch, leaning her against the handrail since she barely had any strength left in her by now. Where had that man come from? He had just appeared out of nowhere, in his pajama's no less, spouting things about oaths and killing and calling a vampire family, no matter that they were vegan vampires, it was still strange. And who was this Teddy person that made him change whatever spell he had been prepared to use, and since when did witches need wands?

Sam was still reeling when Harry came barreling out of the house looking really pale and his skin looked a little green around the edges until he ran past and onto the lawn a few paces away before he started retching. Sam winced in sympathy at the broken sobs and smell of acrid stomach acid.

It took a few minutes for Harry to get his senses about him again and he turned to Sam and Lenore. For the first time Sam noticed how very haunted the guy looked. He was about Sam's age but he had this sort of weight on his shoulders that made him seem a lot older.

As Harry stepped forward Sam noticed how wary he was, which was understandable really seeing as he was a witch and Sam was a hunter, but after tonight Sam wasn't going to judge a book by it's cover and allowed the man to approach and crouch in front of his friend with tears still streaming down his cheeks.

Then the strangest thing happened, he placed his hands over Lenore's forehead and stomach. Sam felt himself frowning as he heard Lenore protesting weakly. Then the knife wounds along her arms, stomach, and face started oozing and Lenore was convulsing violently. "Stop! You're hurting her," Sam tried protesting but the Man-witch didn't even react. Sam attempted to pull him away but some kind of barrier was in the way. It shone blue and sparked as his hands collided with it.

After only a few second Sam realized that what the man was doing was ridding Lenore of the poisonous dead man's blood and the wounds upon her skin were healing very rapidly. The only problem was that Harry seemed to be taking the wounds upon himself and Sam didn't like the idea of anyone making that kind of sacrifice, especially since he had no idea if the lacerations and blood loss would be life threatening to the strange seemingly non-evil witch. So he shouted and banged at the shield that was in his way, only barely registering Dean coming up behind him, until Harry collapsed into a now fully conscious Lenore.

"Oh, Harry," She whispered sadly as she cradled his head in her lap. There was deep affection in her eyes and she didn't even seem to be registering the fact that Harry was bleeding all over . Which was just plain weird because Lenore was a vampire and she should be snarling and snapping to get some of the blood but she just sat there soothingly petting Harry's disheveled hair.

"What the hell was that?" Dean asked staring at the prone form in Lenore's lap.

Lenore sighed heavily and turned so she was facing both of them, never once letting up on soothing Harry who had amazingly stopped bleeding in the few minutes since he collapsed. "Harry used his magic to heal me. Spells like that, they don't work right on dark creatures like me, so the spell has to take an equal sacrifice."

"You mean he knew he was going to get all cut up when he started that spell?" Dean asked incredulously, not truly believing that a witch could do something so selfless.

"He sees me as family. If he were a vampire he would easily have been my childe," Now since Sam and Dean had assumed that Vampires were pretty much extinct until a few months ago Sam hadn't really had any time to research Vampires, let alone learn about their basic familial structure. But the way she said it. The way she looked down so fondly at Harry. _That_ was a mother's love. She wanted to protect him just as much as Harry wanted to protect her.

Sam coughed at the awkward silence that followed that statement. "We should get you and your coven out of here. Gordon won't be letting up anytime soon. We should probably get him out of here too. Gordon is not gonna be happy once he gets out of those ropes."

Lenore looked up and nodded. "Harry probably won't wake up until after we're gone. Can you tell him I'll call once we get to where we're going?"

"Yeah, we can do that," Dean said gently lifting the smaller man into a bridal style embrace.

"You know where he lives?" Lenore asked standing up, the moonlight making her already pale skin glow ethereally.

"Yeah, I know where he lives," Dean said as Sam looked at him in surprise.

Lenore smiled at them, "Thank you, for saving me."

"No problem, I'm just sorry we didn't find out the truth sooner," Sam said apologetically as Dean walked away without another word.

"Take care of him, he's a lot more fragile than he makes himself out to be."

Sam blinked but nodded as Lenore stepped into her truck.

Dean was standing outside the Impala, Harry ensconced in the back seat when Sam made his way over.

"I'm really regretting taking this job, Sam," Dean said laying his arms over the roof and refusing to look Sam in the eye.

"Why? We saved Lenore and what was left of her coven."

"Yeah, but it's fucked everything up. I mean, Dad raised us to hate those things, and man I hate them, but a self sacrificing witch, a coven of vegan vamps. What if the other things we've gone after, didn't deserve it? What if there are other's like them that we did kill?"

"Dean, the way we find our jobs is by looking at mysterious deaths and disappearances. It's really unlikely that we killed something that hadn't killed someone before we got there. This was just a fluke," Sam tried to be as rational and comforting as he knew Dean would allow.

Dean sighed, then got into the car, obviously not ready to accept what Sam said as truth. Sam huffed in frustration but got in anyway. Dean probably just needed time.

On the way back into town Sam decided to ask Dean how exactly he knew where Harry lived.

"He was at the bar last night, eavesdropping on our conversation with Gordon. He left shortly after you did and he was on the phone talking about us so I decided to do a little digging while Gordon was in the bathroom," Dean explained as he pulled into the driveway of a decent looking two story house. "Everyone in town knows this guy, he works at the hospital in the emergency room. He keeps to himself most of the time but owns his own home," Dean gestured to the house in front of them. "Paid off in full, in cash," Dean said significantly as he opened the back seat to lift Harry into that bridal style again.

"He owns this place?" Sam asked in disbelief. The place was huge and someone their age would never be able to afford a place like this unless they were born into money, and looking at the clothes that Harry was wearing it didn't seem likely.

"Yeah, I know," Dean commented and continued on with his explanation. "I couldn't find out much but I know he has a kid, must be with their mom because he's only like six or something."

They continued up to the house and to the front door where Sam unlocked it with his lock picking kit, hoping against hope that the little witch hadn't booby trapped it. Thankfully nothing out of the ordinary happened and they were able to get in with little trouble.

Dean walked in with Harry in his arms and laid him on the couch in the small living room, that had a fireplace big enough to fit an entire person. "Dude, what's up with that?"

"I have no idea but I'm not going to even ask when this guy wakes up. Somehow I think the less we know the better off our mental stability will be," Sam said warily as he set his bag next to the couch an proceeded to patch the smaller man up. The wounds didn't look all that serious but when Sam tried to stitch a few of them up the thread broke after only a few minutes. Sam frowned and tried again but decided it was probably something in the guys blood that corroded the thin thread so just went about patching with gauze and tape.

Dean didn't say much of anything while Sam worked, too busy thinking Sam supposed. He really hated it when his brother got into moods like this. Sam knew his brother so well he could practically hear the self loathing comments going through his brother's brain.

"You think we should put him up in his bed? This couch isn't going to be too comfortable for him," Sam asked patching up the last laceration on Harry's chest.

"Yeah," Dean replied standing from the recliner he had been sitting in. "Wanna help me take him up the stairs?"

Together Sam and Dean hoisted the still unconscious man up the stairs and to the open door at the end of the hall. It was spartan in furnishings, only a bed nightstand and dresser. The furniture really didn't look like it belonged in such a large house.

"Man this guy is weird, if he can afford such a big house why sleep in a full bed?" Dean asked incredulously.

"Probably used to them or something, or maybe he doesn't like having all the extra room. Not everyone goes around having one night stands on a regular basis Dean."

"Yeah, whatever. As soon as we get our answers I want to get out of here. This whole thing is creepy."

They lay Harry down on the forest green comforter. Looking at him the guy seemed, small and fragile, nothing like the powerhouse of magic and light he had been at Lenore's, or the heroic healer afterwards. Harry looked almost like a child, peaceful in his slumber and face softened in repose.

Sam sighed and Dean huffed. "I'm going to go call Bobby. You watch him till I get back, I don't think he'll be waking up anytime soon but you never know."

"Yeah, alright," Sam replied sitting in the comfortable armchair right next to the bed as Dean left the room.

Sam spent the rest of the night in that room, until the sun started peeking in through the curtains. Sam went down to switch positions with Dean, that chair may have looked comfortable but it wasn't really something you want to sit in for more than an hour so Sam was feeling stiff as hell when he finally woke his brother up.

Sam was just about ready to nod off when he heard a scuffle up stairs and found himself in the hallway even before his brain had time to catch up to what it could possibly be. Then he had opened the door in time for Harry's to ram right into him. Wow this guy is short Sam found himself thinking as he tried to keep the guy from falling onto his ass.

Problem was Harry seemed to be kinda freaked. He was struggling and cursing and scratching, like some kind of caged animal, Sam looked over at Dean, who was picking himself up off the floor and then back into emerald green eyes. There was pain, fear, determination, but there was something off, a glassiness to his stare like Harry didn't even realize where he was, just instinctively fighting tooth and nail to get free from Sam's grip.

Then Sam heard a voice, soft and groggy and definitely not an adult. "Harry?"

Shit. Neither of them had even thought to check the second bedroom, which was really strange since they had checked every other room in the house.

The little boy, with monkey pajamas, purple hair, and a stuffed wolf clutched to his chest stared sleepily for a moment before his eyes widened and he dropped the wolf and ran to Harry and started spouting things that Sam had to take a moment to understand.

The kid's name was teddy

Harry wasn't the kid's dad

Harry was some kind of war vet, though Sam couldn't recall any wars that he was old enough to have been in.

This kind of thing happened often because Harry started to relax almost instantly in Sam's arms.

Once Sam deemed it safe he let go of Harry completely to allow Teddy to hug him. While those two were having their moment Sam shared a look with Dean. Dean may not have been the fastest learner, or the academic type, but he was fairly observant and he seemed to have caught most of what had just happened between the kid and Harry. So instead of just hitting the road after making sure that Harry was alright and not evil, they would be asking a lot more personal questions.

"Your hurt," Sam heard the kid say and looked over just in time to see the hair on his head change from violet to magenta in a matter of seconds. It wasn't anything against the kid but Sam felt himself tense of the unknown supernatural ability.

The Harry was the one who tensed and was scooting his son farther from them, from the threat they were to his kid.

"Hey, why don't you go down and watch TV ok? Anything you want," Harry's voice was forcefully calm and the smile looked more like a grimace.

Teddy looked skeptical "You don't let me watch TV until after breakfast."

"Yeah well I need to talk to these gentlemen and it's an adult conversation. I'll give you the rundown after I'm done alright?" Sam's eyes widened briefly. There was no way his own father would have given him that much information about what was going on. It had always been 'follow orders and you won't get yourself killed,' kind of a thing. It was kind of refreshing to see a parent who was that open with their child.

"Alright, as long as you have them fix you up," The kid said with an odd sort of glint in his eyes as he picked up his wolf and walked down the hall.

"I'm fi..." Harry started but stopped at the surprisingly menacing glare and now dark red haired Teddy. "Yeah, alright I'll get them to help."

"You better or I'm going to tell Grandma Weasley about the time you went after that poltergeist in Sacramento," Harry spluttered as Sam tried really hard not to laugh.

"I get the feeling that kid is too smart for his own good," Dean said and Sam kind of had to agree.

"You have no idea," Harry said standing and mussing up his hair with his hands. Then he said something about breakfast but Sam was too busy staring at the now blood soaked bandage on Harry's collarbone.

"Sounds good to us, though the kid was right you need to get your bandages changed."

Harry looked down at himself and seemed to have just registered the bandages. That said a lot about his life if it took this long to notice he was in pain. Harry was seeming more and more like any other hunter.

"ahh...yeah. Just...bathroom," Harry stated haltingly with a bright red blush blossoming over his chest and riding up his neck to his cheeks.

The bathroom was of a decent size, big enough for all three of them to stand around comfortably without bumping elbows on counter tops or each other. As Sam took out the bandages Dean got started on taking off the old bandages.

While patching Harry up Sam found out more than he thought he would about Harry. Stitches didn't seem to work on magical wounds, he was a wizard, which wasn't inherently evil but could become just as bad as a witch if they used certain spells, and Harry had a lot in common with him and Dean, given the way he sounded when describing how close he came to killing Gordon.

When they were done in the bathroom they continued their conversation in the kitchen. After the awe had diminished from watching such a pro in the kitchen make 6 different dished in less than a full hour.

They ended up telling Harry about Lenore and Gordon then Dean decided to continue seeing just how evil Harry was by asking about his parents. It nearly made Sam wince when he had referred to them in the past tense and then they found out that there was a whole society of magic users they didn't know about.

Then Dean had to be...Dean and blurt out "So you're what? Not evil?"

Sam rolled his eyes at his brothers usual lack of tact before suddenly being shocked at the self deprecating laugh that fell out of Harry's mouth. "I try not to be."

That right there seemed to sum it all up for Sam. Harry was just as evil as Sam himself was, maybe even less so given his self control.

Then Sam had to voice his own curiosity about Teddy, even though he knew the question was kind of personal he really couldn't help it. There was only so much assumptions could get you and having his suspicions confirmed did assuage his wariness of the child in the other room.

Apparently Harry had had enough of being interrogated because it was his turn to question them about how he had gotten there and that somehow led to an impromptu introduction as they began to eat.

The rest of the meal went surprisingly well. Dean seemed to get along with Teddy better than Sam thought he would given that the kids hair was now a sunny blond. Sam on the other had got to talking to Harry about the wizards and what kind of magic he could do.

Dean of course had to put a wrench into the works with another tactless remark and they got an explanation of Teddy's abilities and insight into how educated Harry was on the 'muggle' supernatural. Then Sam and Dean explained their own upbringing at Harry's request and seemed to get strangely emotional near the end of the meal.

"Why aren't you eating?" Teddy asked and Sam noticed for the first time that Harry hadn't even touched his food. No wonder the guy looked so tired and thin. How could someone with so much power forget how important staying fed was? That was one of the first things Dad taught them.

Hearing Harry explain the attack on the vampire coven Sam lost his appetite as well. He had forgotten all about the vampires. Then he felt like a total dumbass for not realizing sooner that Harry being friends with Lenore would make him friends with the other vamps as well. Sam averted his eyes from the emotional scene in front of him only to realize that Dean had stopped eating too. Which just made him feel worse.

Dean no doubt was blaming himself for all of this. Dean was the kind of person that always thought it was his responsibility to protect people, and when a job didn't go as planned or someone got hurt on his watch, he took it personally.

Surprisingly it didn't' take long for the two wizards to get a hold of their emotions, then the whole tone of the conversation changed to exclamations about being late and parental scoldings.

"Well, since you two will be busy, we better go," Sam said standing feeling slightly uncomfortable under the fierce gaze Harry was using on them.

I'll walk you out," Harry said and then proceeded to tell Teddy what he needed to get ready before the kid left the room.

"You don't have to walk us out, really," Sam was thinking that being alone with a powerful wizard was not such a good idea for the Hunters that had just been involve3d in killing his friends. But then his fears dissolved away when Harry next spoke.

"I want to make sure that you understand that I don't blame you for what happened. You were just doing your jobs and got caught in something that was very unpleasant. Trust me I know how it goes."

Sam smiled at Harry in thanks but Dean just grunted as he walked out the door. Sam sighed. "I know that but try convincing Dean when he just realized not every monster out there is really a monster."

Sam watched as Harry chased after Dean and ended up meeting him when Dean was about to open the impalla door. The little speech Harry gave made Sam think of a political leader in War time, which Sam supposed that Harry must have been given all he knew of the man now. "...I did what I had to to save lives. That is all you were doing. And all you could ever hope to do. Nothing more, nothing less."

Sam saw the way Dean looked at Harry, the comrade there, a look Dean had only ever shared with him and maybe Gordon before this whole job went sour. Thinking fast Sam pulled out one of their numerous business cards with Bobby's number on it. "Ask for bobby Singer and he'll be able to get a hold of us." Sam wanted to be sure that even if they changed cells or something that Harry would be able to get a hold of them.

Harry smiled then smirked when he mentioned owls of all things. Sam decided not to ask. Then he heard Harry laugh for the first time since they met and Sam thought that Harry was made for laughing since it was so infectuous and seemed to lift both Dean and Sam's mood for miles.


	5. Chapter 5

Harry and Teddy moved to Salem shortly after Lenore left. Harry felt it was high time they were around more magic than just themselves and the bi-monthly visits to the Weasleys. Not to mention Teddy also wanted to start at a magical primary school. The only problem was with so much magic in one area, the supernatural was bound to be attracted to it. Over the next year Harry found more and more reasons to call the number on the card Sam had given him for advice.

Bobby Singer was a very helpful man in that respect. He was as much of an expert in American magical creatures as Hermione was with the British ones.

Every week seemed to bring in something that Harry couldn't identify, simply because most of the time the species of whatever it was was different from what he had been used to in England. This week there were cattle mutilations, and weird thunderstorms not related to the magical community, and there were suspicious murders. 10 different people, all in different parts of the city, all with the strange symbols burned into their skin, each dying within 30 days of each other.

"Hello, Sam?" Harry asked anxiously when the answering voice had just made a monosyllabic greeting. Harry had gotten the number off of Bobby.

"This is Dean, who's this?" Dean sounded slightly miffed, or tired, Harry really couldn't tell.

"Dean. This is Harry," Harry had no idea if the hunter would remember him or not since he had been talking to Bobby the most over the last year and when Bobby hadn't had the time to explain something to him he had got a hold of Sam.

"Yeah, I remember. What's up?"

"I think there might be something in Salem that you guys would like to look into," Harry said fiddling with the newspaper clippings he had spread all over his kitchen table. He would have done this job himself but had come up with dead ends for the last 4 days.

"Well you're in luck we just finished a job near there. We can look into it," Harry realized he hadn't said he actually lived in the area.

"Yeah, you can stay at my place, since I'm the one asking for the help. It could save you the money and hassle of getting a motel room somewhere."

"You moved?" Dean sounded surprised.

Harry chuckled. "Yeah, I thought it would be good for Teddy to be around other wizards, not to mention he's in school now, it's hard to hide his hair all the time in Muggle School so we decided to move here."

"Oh, sweet, yeah I can call you when we get in town and you can give us the address."

A few hours later found Dean and Sam in Harry's kitchen studying the various pieces of information Harry had dug up about the victims and anything else he could think of that might be related. "I know I'm no expert to all this research stuff but I hope that this helps."

"Dude, stop being modest, this looks just as good as Sam's," Dean said looking up from one of the newspaper clippings.

"Yeah, this is really thorough Harry. A lot of this stuff is hard to find. How'd you get the coroners reports anyway?"

Harry coughed and blushed. "Well, I took a job of sorts here. When I'm not working at the hospital I'm…sort of…the local magical sheriff."

"Oh, God, it's the lawman Sammy! Let's get out of here!" Dean intoned dramatically, going so far as to grab his brother's arm and yanking him in the direction of the door.

"Dean!" Sam tried to chastise but the grin on his face belied his amusement.

"Hey if you don't watch the insults Dean Winchester I just might have to use that Binding charm I used on Gordon on you," Harry was grinning now too, it felt like a long time since he had grinned around anyone but Teddy. Harry had slowly gotten to know Sam, though not anything very personal, but he still knew Sam was the kind of guy you wanted as a friend, and through Sam he got to know Dean who he talked about constantly.

"Oh, I think the wizard has an unnatural fondness for tying people up," If the words hadn't conveyed the sexual nature of those words Dean's leer certainly did. Harry felt heat rise on his face as both Sam and Dean snickered at him.

"Hey. We haven't known each other long enough for me to start hitting on you, Winchester," Harry said sticking his nose in the air much like Draco Malfoy would have done in school.

They laughed a few more minutes before going back to their research.

"It's probably a demon," Sam said reading over some of Harry's notes.

"Demon? Those are real?"

"Yeah, nasty black clouds that posses people. Sometimes the person's eyes turn completely black," Dean said not looking up from his own reading.

Harry thought for a moment and then said, "It can't be any of the wizards; our magic makes it near impossible for anything to get into our heads without permission. So it has to be from the non-magical population."

"It says here there were symbols on each of the bodies. What symbols?" Sam asked.

Harry searched the pile of scattered papers and photos until he found what he was looking for and held a few of the photos up. "These are all astrological signs," Sam observed "Taurus, Cancer, Scorpio…"

Harry looked from the pictures then at Sam again and back before slapping his forehead. "I can't believe I didn't see that before!" Harry left the table and went into another room before coming back with a book in hand. "I knew that these symbols were familiar, I just couldn't place them," Turning in his book to a page near the back he grinned. "Divinations weren't my strong point in school but I remember one day, after Voldemort died that I had this strange urge to do a chart. I stuck it in this book and never looked at it again but now," He pulled out the paper and showed various signs and symbols, along with complicated calculations and writing along the edges.

"You studied Divinations in school?" Dean asked incredulously.

"Yeah, but the teacher I had was balls at it. I was too for that matter but I have sort of gotten better at it since the War," Harry unfolded the parchment revealing more strange symbols and charts but then turned the paper over to reveal a list and numbers along with symbols. "I got this…vision I think; while I was doing the chart? This is what I saw," Harry laid the parchment out between the three of them.

"That's the date of the first murder," Sam observed looking at the first entry.

"That's the first victims birthday," Dean pointed out.

"They all correlate. Murders, birthdays, signs, all of it. I just need to find out who the next two are and we can save them," Harry smiled happily.

"Wait…Harry this one here is for today. Whatever is doing this, it's going to kill someone today and we still have no idea where they're going to attack or who the person is they are attacking," Harry frowned and stared down at the birthrate.

"No," Harry whispered as the date April 3rd 1998 swam in front of his vision. "Teddy!" Harry then snapped into action standing so fast the papers on the table all scattered.

"What the hell?" Dean asked indignantly as he stood as well.

"Teddy, whatever it is, is after Teddy!" Harry said bolting out the door.

"Oh, God," Sam whispered as the brothers chased Harry out of the house "Where is he now?"

"He's at primary school. They've got wards all over that place but as long as the killer doesn't have any weapons on them he'll be able to get in. I can't apparate in so I need you to give me a ride NOW!"

"Get in," Dean yelled from the driver side as the Impala roared to life.

It took them 20 minutes to reach the school and another 10 to find out that Teddy was nowhere to be found on the playground where the children were all having recess. "Fuck!" Harry screamed as he ran out of the building to where the brothers stood waiting. "Point me Teddy Lupin,"

Harry's wand just spun in place. "Shit. I can't get a lock on him."

"Well your research said you found all the others in abandoned buildings right, and never the same place twice; the pattern was cyclical from how I saw it, or as near as one can get so that narrows it down," Sam was rambling on as he pulled out a local map of the town from his bag along with a red marker."So since he's going after people for their astrological sign let's assume he's leaving them in the order they take on an astrological chart," Sam drew a large circle on the map and proceeded to mark the places the other bodies were found with their respective signs.

"So all we need to know is which section an Aries would be in and then we'll know where they took Teddy," It took 60 agonizing seconds for Sam to finish the chart. Looking it over Harry's eyes widened

"There!" Then without any warning grabbed both their arms and apparated to the wharf where there were several abandoned buildings and little to no security.

"Point me, Teddy Lupin," Harry said fiercely as the brothers struggled to regain their composure after being sucked through the tiny hole in space that Harry had drug them through.

"Don't…Ever…" Dean coughed and struggled to keep a hold of the contents of his stomach.

"He's over there, let's go," Harry said running in the direction of one of the nearby buildings.

"This guy is going to get himself killed, Sammy," Dean grumbled as they followed Harry's lead.

"We won't let that happen and we won't let him loose Teddy either," Sam said decisively as he pulled his pistol out of the waistband of his jeans.

They found Teddy chained to a large metal table in the center of the room. The whole place smelled of stale fish and gasoline. The fire signs were always burned, the water signs drowned, the earth signs stabbed, the air signs electrocuted. Whatever this thing was he had planned on burning Teddy alive.

Harry quickly and quietly headed over to Teddy as Dean and Sam hung back and started searching the large two story warehouse.

Coming upon his Godson Harry had to close his eyes at the sight of the sign of Aries carved into the 8 year old's chest. "He's special. The greatest of all the gifts I am sending to my master."

The voice was that of a short petite woman with strawberry blonde hair and a deceptively sweet smile. Her eyes flashed black in the low light of the warehouse.

"And who would that be, bitch?" Harry growled out as he placed a cursory hand on Teddy's ankle, his wand concealed beneath the sleeve of his sweater.

"Oriax, he wished to pay a little visit up top" She said crossing the long distance from the side door of the warehouse to where Harry and Teddy stood.

"Yeah well, I can hardly say I like the methods he's using to get here."

The laugh that came from her voice wasn't meant to be the laugh of the woman the demon was possessing. It was high and shrill and it felt like splinters of glass being dragged against a chalk board. "You don't think you can get the upper hand on me do you little hunters?" Then she raised her hand and both Dean and Sam were pulled from the darkness to collide with one of the many steel girders that held up the roof.

"Ahh. The Winchesters. The world is rife with gossip about you two boys."

Dean coughed and spit blood out onto the floor. "Nice to meet you too," He said sarcastically getting to his feet leaning heavily on the girder he had been slammed against.

"Hmmm. They tell me you made a deal…I always wondered what it would be like to get my hands on someone like you. A righteous man like yourself. So pure in intent but soiled in sin," She sauntered closer, only feet from Harry's position now.

"You're gonna have to keep wondering then!" Harry said as he raised his wand arm and cast Confringo at the floor just under the woman's feet sending her body into the air and away from all of them.

Harry cast severing charms on the ropes holding Teddy down and lifted his limp body into his arms. The Demon advanced again after brushing dust off of her denim miniskirt.

"You'll pay for that," She snarled as she raised her hand to shoot Harry across the room like she had Dean and Sam but Harry was too fast and cast a quick Protego over himself and Teddy. The spell worked but just barely. Harry still felt the force of the blow against his back as he turned to Sam and Dean.

"Get him out of here we can deal with her," Sam said as he pulled out a flask from his jacket.

"I'll drop him off at the hospital, I'll be back," Harry said and apparated himself and Teddy to the street just outside the Salem Magical Clinic.

Leaving Teddy in the capable hands of Kirsten the charge nurse he worked with every weekend, Harry apparated back just in time to see the demon on her back with Dean holding her down to let Sam incant some sort of ritual in Latin without being distracted. With swift feet he ran to Dean's side and helped hold her down until black smoke shot out of her mouth as the woman screamed. The woman's body was cold within a few moments of being free of the demon.

"Thanks," Dean said as he stood up and extended a hand to Harry who noticed several small wounds on his face, the woman had clawed at it with her nails.

"No problem," Harry replied though he thought he should be the one thanking them since he knew he wouldn't have been able to find Teddy in time if it hadn't been for the Winchesters.

It was an hour later that Harry came through his front door with a groggy, yet perfectly healthy, Teddy to find the Winchesters still nursing their various wounds; Sam was wrapping Dean's chest, probably cracked a few ribs when that bitch of a demon had tossed them across the room. Harry waved at them briefly before walking Teddy up the stairs to bed. The kid would be out of it for a while, the healing potions always knocked him out like this.

Once in the living room again, Dean now fully dressed and stitching a large gash on his leg closed as Sam wrapped two fingers on his left hand together, Harry thought about just healing them up with magic but decided against it, Sam would be fine with it he supposed but Dean would more than likely refuse on the grounds that he was more than tough enough to deal with a little pain.

Harry slumped himself on the sofa right next to Dean. "My kid almost died today," Harry said without emotion. It hadn't really sunk in yet. That Teddy, the person that was Harry's whole world, had nearly been a sacrifice to some uber-demon from hell.

"But we got there in time, and he's fine now right?" Sam asked frowning.

"Teddy was out for the whole thing, doesn't even remember who snatched him up," Harry rolled his head back and stared at the ceiling. "His parents died when he was only a baby. In the same War my own parents died. We're both war orphans," Harry didn't really know why he was saying all this, it's not like these men would have much of an idea what he was talking about. "He's…he's everything. You know. I mean there's the Weasley's and my coworkers and everything but…I don't think I'd survive very long without him, You know?" Harry rambled and then finally turned to look from Sam and to Dean. Dean was staring at his brother with a sad, sort of lost look in his eyes.

"Yeah, I think I know what you mean," Dean said his voice rough with emotion. Harry frowned.

"Dean," Sam said and it sounded as if there was a lot going on with that one word, like it was a loaded response. Sam looked…wrecked.

"Guy's?" Harry asked raising his eyebrows, all thoughts of Teddy's near death pushed aside to contemplate the newest mystery that was the Winchester Brothers. Both Dean and Sam looked at Harry, the earnest concern and curiosity in his eyes making them fidget. "That demon said something about Dean making a deal…does anyone mind elaborating on that?"

There was a long silence as Dean and Sam had a silent conversation with lots of staring that frankly freaked Harry out, he had never had that kind of relationship with anyone in his life.

Sam was the one to break the silence first with a very deep sigh. "She wasn't lying."

Harry gaped and made a few nonsensical noises but didn't say much of anything.

"Sam died," Dean said flatly.

Harry immediately remembered the disturbing 'dream' he had witnessed months ago.

Flashes of Sam talking to other people Harry didn't recognize, Dean being worried out of his mind. Then demons, one small girl, one with yellow eyes, one with red. Sam being stabbed, dieing cradled in Dean's arms. Dean mourning over his brother not knowing how he would survive on his own after this. How would he possibly go on without someone to protect? Then the Deal. One year for one soul.

Harry was near hyperventilating when the flashes of memories ended. "Wasn't a dream."

"What?" Dean asked anger radiating off of him, though it wasn't really directed toward Harry.

Harry looked from Sam, who was looking more curious and surprised, to Dean who looked angry and on edge. "Well, I had this dream. It was about you and Sam. I've had visions of you before but I…I didn't realize that this one was like the other ones. I thought it was just my subconscious messing with me or something," Harry laughed humorously as tears formed in his eyes.

"What did you see?" Sam asked.

Harry blinked, trying to dispel the tears that threatened to overwhelm him. "There were some people, they were tainted, black, worse than anything I've ever seen. There were demons, one with black eyes and then one with yellow. You died, stabbed by one of those tainted people. Dean was there…too late. Then Dean was mourning, I don't know how long and then there was a red eyed demon, all darkened truths and unbroken promises. She kissed Dean and then there was a price, one soul for another, one year."

Both Sam and Dean looked…ashamed, saddened, guilty. "Harry, I…"

"Oh, God," Harry said putting his head between his legs to try and prevent himself from throwing up.

"Harry, I'm sorry, there was just no way to…you know come out and say it," Sam apologized and Harry could 'see' the look on his face even though he wasn't looking. All large caring hazel eyes and furrowed brow.

It was true that Harry had been keeping in touch over the last year, Talking with Sam and Bobby several times a month in fact, but they never really let it get too personal or mention exactly where they were, old habits died hard apparently, so he really didn't blame Sam for keeping it secret. It was just the idea that Sam had died and that Dean had made a demon deal just to keep his brother alive and Harry felt…well he didn't know how he felt about that because given the choice between saving himself or saving someone he loved. There was no question, he had made choices like Dean's several times, it was just that Harry had never been faced with anyone who had made a choice like he had before.

"Well, now that you know, me and Sammy have to get going, we've got a demon to kill after all and time's a wastin'," Dean stood stiffly from his position next to Harry "Come on, Sammy."

"Wha…No Dean…" Harry started, hearing how vulnerable Dean felt. "No I…I completely understand what you did and why you did it. I've sacrificed myself a dozen or more times for friends of mine, and Sam is way more important to you than those people were for me," Harry knew the words were true as soon as they came out of his mouth. Because despite the fact that he had the Weasley's and Lenore's coven and so many others, the only person he knew he would make that kind of ultimate sacrifice for right now was Teddy. All the other relationships in his life paled in comparison.

Dean turned, shocked. Harry was the first person to agree with his decision to save his brother. "Harry?" Sam asked looking bemusedly at the shorter brunet.

Harry stood as well and turned to look at Sam, who by all rights should be dead. "You're a lucky man, Sam. To have a family that is willing to do so much to keep you safe. Not all of us can have things like that."

There was a long silence where Sam and Dean just stared at Harry and Harry attempted to keep his gaze on the wall behind Sam's shoulder.

"Yeah, well you're kid is really lucky to have you as his father Harry," Dean said placing a heavy hand on Harry's shoulder.

Harry smiled because a statement like that from Dean Winchester was worth more than his weight in gold.

"Come on. You two can help me fix up some dinner. I'm starving," Dean was the one to smile now because it had been almost a full year since he had eaten a home cooked meal.


	6. Chapter 6

A few hours later found them all sitting in the living room again, Dean cleaning their guns and Sam sitting at the desk in the corner laptop making notes from Harry's more relevant texts. Harry sighed as he stood from his seat in the sun. "Do you guys mind if I bring someone over? I need to get the opinion of one of my friends on your Deal."

They hadn't mentioned the deal during dinner, just making small talk about their lives and families. Nothing very personal but it was still nice for all of them to have a semi-normal conversation.

"It's your house dude, we're just crashing remember?" Dean said reassembling the pistol in his hands.

"I know I was just making sure you knew that I would be mentioning your personal business, though I'll keep it as nonspecific as I possibly can I doubt that I'll be able to pull the wool over Luna's eyes for long," Harry said as he walked toward the fireplace big enough for a person to stand in.

"Why's that?" Sam asked idly looking up from Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

Harry smiled as he tossed some dark powder into the fire, making it turn green.

"She's a sort of Seer. Though I didn't understand that until a few years ago," Harry then stuck his head into the fire, causing both Sam and Dean to stand up in alarm, before his voice was heard saying "Luna Lovegood, American Magical Embassy," That made Sam relax but Dean was on his way to pulling Harry right out of the fire again.

"Dean, I think it's just one of those magic things, like a telephone or something."

Dean blinked and backed away slightly but didn't' sit back down. Magic always had him on edge.

It took Harry only a moment to finish speaking before he was once again standing in front of them exactly as he had before backing away from the fireplace. "Dude, next time warn a guy your gonna stick your head into some magical fire," Dean said indignantly.

Harry blushed. "Oh, sorry I forgot you're not used to this kind of thing. The only people I trust enough to let inside my house are family and they are all wizards."

Sam and Dean both felt very confused, yet honored that they were included in that statement. Having Harry and Teddy as family didn't sound like such a bad idea.

Before any sort of chick flick moment could start, again. A young woman walked through the still emerald green fire. She was Harry's size, petite and had dirty blonde hair with a stick similar to Harry's poking out from behind her ear.

"I am ever so glad that you flooed Harry. I have been so wanting to see if the rumors of a Crumple Horned Snorkack in the vicinity of Salem were true or not."

Harry seemed to smile indulgently at Luna. "Really? You haven't sighted one yet? I'm surprised since you published that article in Wizarding Wonders of the World, that you found a new species of Kelpie in Florida."

"Oh yes quite different from the horse like creatures in Scotland, they actually look more like a goat and turn into teenaged men instead of grown ones," Luna said setting the bag she had been holding down on the floor.

"Wow we're really going to have to catch up sometime soon Luna. But there was a reason I called you. I need your help with something," Harry was fidgeting slightly as he walked further into the room and sat down next to Dean who had calmed down enough to finish up with the pistol he had been cleaning.

"Oh?" She said finally noticing the other two men in the room. "Well they are very pretty but you do realize that this one has an infestation of Wracksputs," Luna said looking at Dean. "Their making him look very sad indeed."

Harry sighed "I knew I couldn't keep much from her. Look Luna Dean here made a deal with a Crossroads Demon. Do you know anything about them?" Harry asked hopefully. If anyone knew anything about something the Wizarding world thought extinct or non-existent it was Luna.

"I've seen references to them in my work. Demons seem to be the cause of things like the nymphs in America going missing just before a large muggle plant is placed in their native habitat. Not to mention that the owner of the building will usually die 10 years later."

Sam and Dean both looked stunned. "Nymphs are real?" Dean asked incredulously.

"Oh, very much real they can be quite territorial too when provoked," She then sat down in the remaining armchair in the room. "How long did you get?"

"One year, that was about 5 months ago," Dean said not looking at anyone as he put his pistol back together and placed it back in the weapons bag.

"Well, I'm assuming you know that killing the crossroads demon you made the deal with won't help?" Sam winced but nodded. "I know of some ways to keep the deal from going through but depending on the stipulations I am not sure if it would work."

Luna's voice had somehow taken on a less dreamy quality as she spoke, it eased Deans fears that this woman wouldn't be able to help them at all. "We interfere in any way to keep the deal from going through and Sam dies," Dean said stiffly.

"Oh, dear that is a problem. Too bad we couldn't interfere and then somehow bring Samuel back," She said dreamily again.

Harry blinked at her, Dean looked incredulous and Sam just looked plain uncomfortable.

"By Merlin. Luna you are a genius!" Harry said hopping up from his seat to launch himself at her holding her tightly.

"I am?" She asked smiling as Harry held her.

"Yes! I can't believe I didn't think of it as soon as they said anything!" Harry pulled Luna out of the chair and spun her around. "The stone Luna the stone and magic can do wonderful things with people who are sick or injured and then there would be no reason for Dean to follow through with the deal. I mean we will have to do a lot of research and there will be potions that need to be brewed and spells to get and everything but it might work." Harry was babbling and neither brother could follow what he was saying.

"Harry, what could work?"

Harry looked over at Sam and the beaming smile on the wizards face made Sam believe that whatever he was thinking could actually work. Harry finally let go of Luna went over to the bookshelf where a box the size of Harry's forearm was sitting.

"Remember that War I told you guys about," Sam and Dean nodded, vaguely remembering the two times he had said something about it. "Well there was a lot going on and I am not going into that story right now because I don't even understand half of it but the point is that I got these three things call The Deathly Hallows. Gifts that Death himself was said to have given to three brothers. One was an invisibility cloak, one was an unbeatable wand and the third was a stone that allowed you to bring back an image of a dead loved one."

Harry laid the box on the table that Dean had been using to lay out his guns on earlier. "Now that wouldn't really help us except for the fact that I now am the owner of all three, and until I lose possession of one or all of them I stay the wielder of the Deathly hallows and I have some power over what happens to a soul once it's body has died."

"How do you know that Harry?" Luna asked.

Harry looked over at her and smiled sheepishly. "Well Death kinda had a little chat with me once. He handed me the stone and told me to use his gifts wisely. He then touched my forehead and I knew all the powers that the Hallows had, separately and together."

Sam had that thinking face of his on and Dean just sat back and tried to process all that was going on, still kind of stuck on the idea that Death had talked to Harry.

"Now I think if we get the right potions together and the right spells, along with the fact that we can break Dean's deal by trying to save him with an unbreakable vow or something then I can use the stone to keep Sam's soul in his body while I try and repair whatever damage has been done to it." Harry said excitedly.

"Wait. Isn't that going to be really difficult for you to do by yourself?" Sam asked thinking of the logistics of Harry holding his soul in place and casting magic as well as giving a lifeless body 'potions'.

Harry frowned a little. "Well, I guess but I can always find people to help me. There are the Weasleys and Dean will be able to give you the potions as long as I keep them in order and Luna can help me research exactly how to magically break the demon deal. It will be hard and there is no saying that there is a 100% chance that it will work but what other options do we have?"

"How likely is it that Sam will survive?" Dean asked gruffly.

Everyone turned to stare at him. Harry smiled sadly. "Way better than yours."

Dean stared right back at Harry and saw they were thinking the same thing. This was not going to happen if Sam wasn't going to survive.

Sam coughed awkwardly. "How…How long until we can do this?"

Harry broke the staring contest with Dean to look at Sam's dejected face. Sam didn't like the idea of Dean not having as good a chance of surviving as he did. "Months. Maybe all of the one's he has left. The potions we need are complicated and need weeks to brew, not to mention that I need to find someone competent enough not to fuck them up, or maybe I could look into what Snape had left in his stores…I don't know but it's going to be a close call."

"So until then Me and Sammy will do what we do best and keep us posted," Dean said with a smirk, he was beginning to hope that he might actually get both him and his brother out of this alive.

 

* * *

 

Harry spent the next two months finding everything and everyone that would help him make, 'his craziest idea yet' according to George, work. The potions were turning out to be the hardest and Luna was hot on the trail of the most lore she could find on crossroads demons,.

Harry had introduced Luna to Bobby days after the Winchesters left on another case since the older hunter had the largest library Harry knew in existence on Demons. Bobby seemed to be wary of her at first but as was Luna's way she ingrained herself in his life with little effort on anyone's part. Now every time Harry called Bobby would be saying that "The girl may be crazy but at least she knows how to research," That was as close to a compliment as Harry had heard from the gruff hunter and it always made him smile.

Unfortunately the atmosphere of accomplishment was brought crashing down when Sam called him one day sounding totally wrecked. "He's dead."

The words had Harry dropping the plate he had been drying. "Wha…How?"

"There was this trickster…and he killed him…over and over…time loop, hundreds of Tuesdays and I couldn't stop any of it and then…it was Wednesday and then he died again and there was no trick this time and I can't…I won't."

Harry felt as if his heart was going to implode or freeze or…wait. "Sam what day do you think it is?"

"Harry, he's dead and all you can think of is what day it is?" Sam sounded furious, Harry remembered feeling that kind of rage right after Sirius died but would allow Sam's anger to deter him.

"Answer the question!" Harry said leaving the kitchen to head for the front door.

"It's Thursday," Harry pulled out his wand to see that the day was actually Tuesday the 5th.

"Where was Dean killed?" Harry didn't want to arouse Sam's suspicious because he assumed that the Trickster, whatever that was, was listening in on him.

"Broward County, Florida," Sam hissed out.

"Stay where you are and don't do anything stupid," Harry said for good measure before hanging up and heading out the door to the nearby alley he used to Apparate. Trouble was when he tried to apparate to the tracking amulet he had given either brother he ended up in a swamp.

"What the bloody hell?" Harry cried as he splashed around in the waist deep water. Harry used the extra time it took him to get out of the water to call Bobby. "What's a trickster and how the hell do I kill it!"

It took Harry a good 3 hours to make it into anything resembling a town and when he did he immediately felt the change in atmosphere. This didn't feel like he was messing with a pagan god. This was far too complicated a field around the town to be a god of transformation and tricks. But Sam had said it was and Bobby confirmed the information that Harry had gleaned from Sam. So it had to be. Right?

With a frown and a shudder Harry lifted his wand and said "Point me, Trickster," Unsurprisingly it didn't work, not even when he tried the dozen other names the 'god' went by.

"Alright. I know you're watching and I know what you did to Sam and Dean. Let me just tell you that by messing with them you are messing with me and believe me you do not want to mess with me or my family!"

"Ohh the little wizard going to bind me with a spell? Or how about using that lovely little killing curse your kind seems so fond of?" Harry turned around abruptly to be face with a man that was only three inches taller than himself.

"Damnit why do they always have to be taller than me!" Harry muttered to no one in particular.

"Cause you're a midget who has an obsession with phallic symbolism," The…thing waggled his eyebrows with a leer.

Harry snorted because, yeah, he had thought of that one more than once when thinking about the lengths of some people's 'wands'.

"Yeah well, at least I have a wand," Harry said turning fully to glare at the smirking man.

"Hey I can swish and flick with the best of them, but," The man snapped his fingers and Harry wand was suddenly in the other mans hand. Harry just glared. "Don't you know that someone like me can just take your little toys away to make you play nice?"

"Few people know how very naughty I can be," Harry said idly as he waved his hand at a nearby trashcan and hurled it at the man who just snapped out of existence to appear again in the same spot once the can flew past.

"Wow, I hate to admit this but I'm impressed. Not many of you little wand wavers can use your power without your crutch."

"Yeah well you learn to think on your feet when you're the savior of an entire race," Harry said with a little more bitterness than he intended.

"Oh, you're that wand waver," The smirk grew wider on the man's face. Harry thought it strange that the expression didn't extend into his eyes.

"The-boy-who-lived at your service," Harry mock bowed as he sent a vending machine through the air, again not hitting the Trickster.

"Hey careful with the candy it didn't do anything to you!" The Trickster said snapping his fingers so the vending machine set itself down softly against one of the buildings.

"Give Dean and Sam back and I might actually listen," Harry said as he flung a street bench through the air. He was probably letting his anger and frustration get the better of him but that usually happened when anything went after someone Harry cared about.

"Why are you so attached to those chuckleheads anyway. They'd kill you as soon as you showed them your little tricks."

"You don't know anything about us so leave off!" Harry growled stepping forward to try and physically confront the man.

"Oh I know plenty, about you and those brothers. Constantly sacrificing yourselves for other people. Doing anything to bring the others back without thinking of the consequences."

Harry blinked in surprised confusion. "This is about Dean's deal?"

"Someone has to teach those arrogant little pricks a lesson. Might as well be me," The trickster lifted his hands up and shrugged as if he were taking on the weight of the world.

"Wow. I thought you might just be using them for entertainment or something but this just makes me think you're the stupidest thing on the planet," Harry held in forehead for a moment missing the sneer that slipped on and off the other man's face.

"What would you know about it. You're worse than they are sacrificing yourself for a race of people that would just as soon lock you up than thank you for saving their sorry butts," The Trickster said circling Harry, his arms crossed over his chest.

"I was kind of young at the time. I wouldn't do anything like that anymore. Not unless it was Teddy I was trying to save. Which is the same for Dean saving Sam," Harry tried to explain gesticulating.

The Trickster looked into Harry's eyes for a moment, Harry noticing that the guy had eyes the color of caramel. His face looked amused and disbelieving but again the feelings didn't reach his eyes. "How is protecting your child in any way like Dean protecting his brother?" There was a sardonic raise of his left eyebrow.

"I may not know Sam and Dean all that well. And I may not understand all the little things they do…but even I know that Sam and Dean are way more than just brothers. Dean looks after Sam like I do Teddy and vice versa some of the time. They protect each other, love each other, and would give everything they could possibly give to make the other's life a little better. They could never intentionally hurt each other…" Harry sighed. "Dean might not see it, Sam might not see it. Hell even a pagan god with far too much free time and power might not see it but Dean is Sam's Father, Mother, Brother, and best friend. "

The Trickster furrowed his brow and just stared at Harry. There was a long silence and Harry felt his righteous anger fade. It dissipated at the pained expression in the ancient beings eyes It was seeing something from a long time ago and was regretting it. "You're too smart for your own good, Potter."

Harry snorted in disbelief. "Well that's not something I hear every day."

"Come on. I'll give your boys back," The Trickster held out his hand.

Harry blinked at the appendage "Their not my boy's."

The Trickster chuckled and it was more sincere than any of the other expressions Harry had seen on it's face. "Whatever you say small fry. Grab my hand."

Harry looked at the Tricksters face for a moment, trying to determine his intention and then just shrugged and placed his hand in the others and he felt as if he were flying.

Harry was gasping and flushed when he landed in a dark room with a devastated looking Sam standing in the doorway. The taller hunter, who had always been on the lither side due to his massive height looked like he had lost almost 30 pounds and hadn't slept in weeks.

"Sam? What the hell?" Harry couldn't think of anything else to say past the frantic exclamation as he ran towards Sam.

"What took you so long Harry? It's been months," Sam's voice was devoid of emotion and the sound of it reminded Harry too much of the War and all that he had lost before he had Teddy.

"I've fixed it, don't worry. I might not have been able to save my family but I won't let yours be run in to the ground. Come on. You need to rest, Dean should be here in a few minutes."

"Dean's dead and there is no brining him back."

"Shit. S-sam, look at me. You're stuck…in a time loop remember. The trickster, it lied, ok?" Harry heard the wavering of his own voice but couldn't do anything to change it. "You just have to wait for them to get back and then you'll see," Harry was babbling as he set Sam down in a nearby chair his words running together as his speech quickened. The chair was rickety and the entire room looked as if it were about to fall down around them but Harry was too focused on getting the real Sam back to care.

Sam looked straight at Harry for the first time. "I would believe you, if you were really Harry," Then there was a searing pain in Harry's gut and blood spilling to the floor.

"Sam?" Harry whispered as he staggered back, there was knife sticking out of his stomach. Wooden handle, rune covered blade, Harry could feel the magic of it pulsing in time with his heart beat. There was no way his magic could heal this.

"If you were Harry you would have been here as soon as I called. You're not the real Harry."

No…No this couldn't be happening. Sam couldn't be gone, he couldn't have broken completely. Please. No! Harry screamed in his mind. Despairing that even if he did bring them out of this loop that Sam would never recover. That the guy Harry had met in Red Lodge. The kid with the overprotective big brother and the sweet smile that made Harry think of sunlight and stars and a heart filled with such compassion that he barely thought twice about trusting a group of vegan vampires and befriending a couple of wizards. Couldn't think of loosing that person forever because he hadn't gotten there in time. Because he had been too late, again. Tears and pain made Harry's vision blurry and unfocused as he pulled the knife out to clutter on the floor.

There was a snapping fluttering sound as Harry felt his legs give out beneath him.

"Dean?" Sam's voice was full of disbelief and hope. He's still there. Yes. Thank you. Thank you, Sam's still there.

"Sam? Oh my God, Harry?" Dean exclaimed seeing the blood on Sam's hands and Harry kneeling on the floor.

"No," Sam whispered in disbelief "I didn't think that…I thought he was…" Sam sounded broken again.

"Don't…don't break again. Please…" Harry mumbled not even noticing The Trickster standing a few feet away.

"Dude, I can't even leave you alone for five minutes without you getting yourself half-dead?" Harry looked up into oddly worried amber eyes.

"You should have been there when I was a teenager. Nearly died once a month back then," Harry started coughing and spluttering, the knife had apparently nicked one of his lungs because blood was seeping out between his lips and it was getting hard to breath.

"Harry come on. I'm so sorry. Please you can't. I already had to go through Dean leaving you can't leave," Sam crouched next to Harry and held him upright. Huge hands going to Harry's face making glazed emerald look into his own hazel.

"He's right Harry you still need to get me out of this whole hell mess remember?" Dean put his hand on Harry's shoulder and sounded just as broken as Sam did and honestly Harry couldn't come up with a reason why either of them would be so affected by him being hurt. They really didn't know each other all that well.

"Stop being such drama queens. I got this," The Trickster said shoving both Sam and Dean away roughly before catching a very limp Harry in his arms. Harry was cradled against the guys chest and couldn't help but notice The Trickster smelt of morning dew and milk chocolate.

"Now I may not have done this in a long time but I still remember how so no complaining about it feeling weird," The Trickster then placed his hand onto Harry's chest and Harry felt something very warm and living entering his chest. It wasn't magic, it felt more pure than anything Harry had ever felt. No it felt like just after he had died, the feeling coming from the train, from what was beyond the station waiting for him. Then the feeling changed and Harry could feel what the trickster was feeling; confused, hopeful, sad, lonely.

Then the warmth receded and Harry felt better than he had in a very long time. He opened his eyes, he had no idea when he had closed them, to see The Trickster hovering over him. "There better than any of your kind can pull off I would think."

Harry blinked and then used his hands to lift the hem of his t-shirt up to reveal clean, unblemished skin underneath. "Wow. Not even a scar. You're pretty good," Harry was trying very hard to forget how that had felt. How intimate it had felt to have that non-trickster power inside of him.

"Harry," Sam whispered from behind Dean, as if Harry might actually attack him or something.

"Seriously? Don't worry about it. You know how many time's I've had friends try and kill me? It's like a right of passage or something," Harry said extracting himself from The Tricksters grasp, not even daring to interpret the bereft feeling he felt once he was free and standing on his own.

"You're not…" Sam was so being shy and looked so much like a kicked puppy that no one would have been able to stay mad at him if they tried.

"Course not. You were hurting and I should have known better than to get too close to you when you were obviously not yourself. No harm done," Then Harry was being wrapped up in a very large very strong embrace.

"So sorry. Not gonna happen again. Promise," Harry could feel Sam trembling.

"Anyone mind telling me what happened now?" Dean asked from the sidelines.

Harry tried laughing but Sam was squeezing him to hard. "He'll tell you once I get you chuckleheads home," The Trickster provided as Sam let go of a grinning Harry.

Without any warning they were all standing in Harry's living room. Harry being the only one to notice that the transition was through actual flight was beaming like an idiot. "You have to teach me to do that."

"It's not a learned trait little wizard," and then The Trickster was gone and Harry once again had his wand in hand as if he had never let it go.


	7. Chapter 7

The Winchesters spent the next week at Harry's place trying to help with the spells and potions for the ritual, but they really weren't good at the whole magic thing. That didn't stop them from sticking around though They made the excuse that they needed to find another job before they headed out again.

Harry for his part didn't want them to leave because he wanted to make sure Sam really was recovered enough to go out hunting again, along with making sure that Dean had come back in one piece.

The Winchesters were doing much the same thing. Harry hadn't realized that explaining that the cursed blade interfered with his magic to the point where he hadn't been able to heal it himself, freaked the brothers out enough to make sure that Harry barely left their sight for the next week. Harry had been unsure why he was the recipient of mother hen Dean and Sam. He didn't think Dean and Sam knew him well enough to be mothering him like that. He tried saying as much once but got twin glares for even daring to mention it. So he left it alone.

Teddy had been ecstatic to learn that the hunters were going to be staying with them. "They tell the best stories and Sam knows way more about magical creatures than my teacher does," Teddy babbled as he and Harry made dinner.

"Really? When have they had a chance to tell you any stories?" Harry asked slicing cucumbers for a salad.

"Loads of times over the phone when you were too busy with the spells to help Dean," Teddy said idly as he grated the cheese to put on top of the lasagna they were making for dinner.

"Oh," Harry frowned "have I really been that busy with it?" Harry started feeling a little guilty that he had been neglecting Teddy more than he ought, putting too much priority on finding everything for the ritual.

"It's not a problem Dad, I know how important it is that you help. I don't know exactly what's going on but I don't want Dean or Sam to get hurt and I know that's what you're trying to help with so, I'm good."

Harry stared at his godson. He was growing up far faster than Harry would have liked but Teddy was unnaturally intelligent, probably along the lines of Hermione, but unlike her he hardly ever had to study and didn't have to put in half the effort that she had as even an eleven year old. With a sad smile Harry ruffled Teddy's straw colored hair-he'd come a long way in controlling his metamorphmagus abilities since he started school.

"Kido, you are the best thing that could have ever happened to me, you know that right?"

Teddy laughed. "Yeah, how else would you know that the noodles are boiling over."

"Bugger!" Harry exclaimed as he raced to the stove to avert the disaster.

Later at the dinner table Dean got to talking to Teddy about school and his own childhood with Sam. "Sam was so smart that if we stayed in one town for more than a few months they were always wanting to push him up a grade."

"Really? You were that smart Sam?" Teddy asked in disbelief.

Sam flushed and elbowed his brother. "School was never really all that hard for me I guess but I had it easy, I didn't start officially hunting until I was 14. Dean started way earlier than that and he had to take care of me when Dad was gone. Dean's a lot smarter than he makes himself out to be."

It was Dean's turn to assault his brother, this time with a kick under the table. Harry laughed. "People underestimate you all the time don't they Dean?"

Dean looked at Harry and blinked. "Why do you say that?"

"Well, I know that when I went to primary school I always dumbed myself down," Harry said idly spearing a piece of lasagna with his fork. "What was the point when all that a good report card got me was grief?" He placed the piece of food in his mouth and chewed thoughtfully then swallowed before continuing. "After a few years the teachers started believing that I really was just as ignorant as I portrayed myself to be. Even when I started Hogwarts there was a teacher that taught my IQ was lower than a trolls. He would never have thought me capable of making half the potions I make today on a weekly basis."

"Are you trying to say that you think I'm some kind of closet genius or something?" Dean looked just a little offended. The look made Harry chuckle.

"No. What I'm saying is that you are smarter than you look and you have some very good qualities that others will miss if all their looking for is a test score."

Dean rolled his eyes and continued eating, only Sam saw the embarrassed smile that crept onto Dean's lips. It was nice to see even that small of a smile on his brother again.

After dinner Teddy sat in the living room doing his homework, trying to get Dean to pay attention to some of the simpler theory revolving around magic and the different types. "The difference between us and say a muggle who makes a deal with a demon is all about balance. A natural born wizard takes his power from himself, or, in Harry's case the elements around them. A demon-deal-witch can't use their power unless they sacrifice for it. Blood, or people."

"Really, it's that simple?" Dean asked astonished.

"Yeah, so you don't have to worry that you might have gotten one of our kind since you were following death signs and things."

"Huh," Dean pursed his lips and nodded looking slightly relieved.

As Teddy went on to explain how transfiguration worked Sam and Harry were discussing demon lore in the kitchen as they finished up the dishes.

"So the only way you guys know of to get rid of demons are to trap them and say an exorcism, that knife I got shanked with, and a gun that was made by some hunter but you don't have now because of a woman who has a penchant for 'acquiring rare artifacts'?" Harry asked summing up what Sam had just been explaining.

"Pretty much," Sam said rinsing off a plate and setting it on the drying rack.

"There has to be a better way to get rid of them without hurting the people their riding," Harry said idly scrubbing a stubborn spot on the lasagna pan.

"Or at least to tell if the host is still alive and worth the risk of trapping and exorcising," Sam replied setting aside another plate.

"I'm sure Luna could come up with something. She'd love to take a look at that knife though, even if Bobby already has everything on it. Looking at a magical artifact in person gives a better sense of the entirety of the object instead of just parts of it."

There was silence for a few minutes before Sam spoke again. "You heard from Lenore lately?"

Harry smiled. "Yeah, just last week. The coven is even bigger now, Lenore found a mate and they found a few newborns whose sires had died a few states away. They're having a little trouble but not anything they can't handle. They may have a few setbacks but no one has died and they make sure to call me when it happens so I can heal up the victims and alter their memories to keep everyone safe."

Sam stood thinking as he set the lasagna dish on the rack. "Harry, why didn't you ever become a hunter?"

Harry laughed. "I nearly did, or at least the wizarding equivalent back in England. Aurors their called. Special police who hunt down dark creatures and wizards."

"What happened?" Sam leaned against the counter arms crossed over his chest head tilted slightly to the side.

"The wizarding government tried taking Teddy. Said he was classified as a Dark Creature because of Remus, who was a werewolf. Thing is the kid doesn't have any of the symptoms. The lycanthropy virus may be blood borne but it can't take the conditions in the womb. The constant recycling of the blood from mother to child keeps the virus from fully replicating itself and it ends up dying within the first six weeks of conception," Sam's eyes widened at the long speech.

Harry flushed. "Sorry. My friends and I did a lot of research over the years trying to find cures and the like. I think I just channeled Hermione just then."

"You've mentioned her before. Is she your girlfriend?" Sam seemed quite interested to know.

Harry smiled sweetly. "No, more like a sister. Been friends since we were eleven."

"Wow. I've never been friends with anyone for that long," Sam said staring up at the ceiling as if he would find the answers to the universe in the off white paint.

Harry frowned and stared at Sam. "What in Merlin's name are you talking about? You've had the best kind of friend all your life."

"What?" Sam asked his eyebrows knitting together his eyes confused.

Harry laughed, though it sounded sad. "Your brother. You have any idea how much I would give to grow up with family like that? Who loved me no matter what I did or what I was?"

Sam was speechless and Harry was tensed as if he had said too much.

"Sorry. I'm…I need to get Teddy into bed," Harry made a swift exit.

Sam ran his fingers through his hair in frustration. He felt like a total dick and he really didn't know why.

While Harry was upstairs Sam entered the living room and slumped onto the couch next to Dean "What did you say?" Dean asked knowingly as he flipped the page in the book he was skimming through. Transfiguration for Toddlers.

"That I never really had any true friends. I didn't even think about the fact that Harry would see you as a friend of mine. That kind of thing just doesn't register because you're my brother and it's totally different," Sam sighed again. "I think Harry's having a hard time, he's usually not that sensitive."

Dean blinked and looked at Sam as if he were a child. He was silent for a while before finally saying "Me and Harry are a lot alike," Dean pursed his lips and raised his eyebrows before going back to his reading not even acknowledging that he even made the statement. Sam, who had grown up with his brothers half expressed emotions and sly cover ups knew exactly what he was saying. Harry had let himself look vulnerable, in front of both of them, more than once in the last few months. Not counting that first night. If Sam or Dean were honest with themselves, that first night had made them think that Harry was more like Sam than his older brother, but as the months went by and they slowly got to know Harry, or rather not know Harry, they realized that the wizard was way more like Dean, worse even in a lot of ways.

Harry kept things in, bottled them up until they exploded in a torrent of fear and pain and anger. At least Dean had Sam to take some of that out on. Harry only ever seemed to get vulnerable when it came to Teddy and the kid was only 8. There was only so much that Harry could talk to Teddy about, no matter how mature the kid was.

Sam felt suddenly very awed with the fact that he had been so trusted with Harry's inner torment. That kind of trust obviously didn't come easily to the wizard and Harry had been more open with Sam and Dean than either of them had been with Harry. Sam silently vowed that he would be attempting more heart to hearts with Harry in the very near future.

Sam tried several times to talk to Harry after that, unfortunately Harry would have none of it. Making excuse after excuse to not be in the same room with Sam alone. Apparently he hadn't meant to break down earlier and was doing a pretty good impression of Dean at avoiding the situation. Masking his discomfort with grins and very dry morbid humor.

Dean had the audacity to say "Told you," When Harry once again made a quick retreat to the basement 'to work on potions'.

"Well then why don't you do something about this?" Sam nearly screamed at Dean.

"Talking to him isn't going to help, Sam," Dean acted as if that was the most obvious thing in the world. "When he's ready to talk, he will. You're forgetting that the guy was in a War. He more than likely isn't used to people confronting him right after all this emotional crap. Hell even we haven't been pushy with him right after something big, you know?"

When had Dean become so insightful? "Christo," Sam intoned in a monotone.

"Shut up bitch, I'm serious. I've dealt with your teen angst enough times to know that trying to force him to talk isn't going to get you anywhere."

"Harry's isn't a teenager," Sam said petulantly.

"No he's not, he's worse, because with the few times he's even mentioned his family I know they didn't think much of him and even if Dad was gone all the time we know he cared, that he always loved us. I don't think Harry ever had that."

Sam sat on the couch with a large sigh thinking back on the few things Harry had let on about his family. Sam knew that Harry's parents were dead, that Harry thought him lucky to have a family who cared so much, that Harry was one of the few people not lucky enough to have family that cared enough to sacrifice themselves for him. All those things pointed to a childhood that was worse off than their own.

"So, you think I should just lay off?" Sam asked feeling even more like a dick than before.

"Yeah."

Harry had made his excuse, nearly running out of the room when he saw Sam, and made his way to the basement feeling like a complete coward but what else was he supposed to do, every time Sam looked at him like that- like he wanted to have a bleeding mushy moment-Harry couldn't help but run. Harry distinctly remembered the few times that Hermione had tried to talk about his childhood with him. Harry had growled at her and told her it was none of her business. Harry was thankful that Hermione hadn't taken it personally.

Though now Harry was so afraid of being in the same room with Sam because he somehow knew that Sam would listen, would understand somehow. Not like Hermione who would have insisted on pressing charges against the Dursley's. That wasn't what Harry needed, he just needed someone to listen, and Sam would do exactly that.

As Harry contemplated his situation he worked on one of the potions he needed to get done in less than two months. There was still a lot to do and even more to try and predict anything that could go wrong.

He was half an hour into working on one of the healing potions that would be used to repair Sam's spinal cord. A potion that required his undivided attention. But the argument with Sam and the stress of the situation was distracting him so much that he barely registered the over boiling cauldron.

"Bloody Hell!" Harry exclaimed wiping up the mess and turning off the heat. This was the third batch he had attempted. Never getting much past the first phase.

"You're letting the Asphodel cook too fast," A voice said from behind Harry.

"I know that!" Harry yelled tossing the cauldron clear across the room before he realized that there shouldn't be someone else in this room with him. He had warded it against intruders, but apparently his wards couldn't keep out a Trickster. The demi-god was sitting on the low counter bolted to the stone wall just to Harry's right.

"No need to get snippy I was just trying to help," The Trickster said unwrapping a bright yellow sucker and popping it into his mouth.

"What are you doing here?" Harry asked his annoyance not really directed at the Trickster but it was better than taking his anger out on his potions lab.

"Saving you the trouble of having to redo the potion," Then he snapped his fingers and a palm sized square bottle with glowing green liquid was sitting on the table between them. "I got this from the best potions master I've ever known. Hard guy to find and damned antisocial if you ask me but he is the best."

"Why would you get this for me?" Harry asked his anger drifting away like fog in the presence of summer sunlight. He lifted the bottle up to inspect it, and noticed the small etching on the bottom of the bottle. "How the bloody hell did you get one of Snape's potions? The stores at Hogwarts were commandeered by the Ministry and Snape's house was blown to bits right after he died," Harry was staring in awe at the tiny bottle then back at the Trickster.

The Trickster shrugged and leaned back on his elbows on the countertop, the stick of the sucker moving as he smirked. "That's for me to know and for you to find out."

There was a long pause where the only sound was of Harry breathing and the Trickster clicking the sucker against his teeth and occasional sucking. Harry smiled softly and said "Thanks, this means a lot."

The Trickster just waved him off and jumped down off the bench. "So, how are the chuckleheads doing?"

Harry watched The Trickster walk away from the table and inspect a few of the books Harry had open. "Their doing good, though I probably wouldn't show myself to them if I were you."

The Trickster looked up and raised an incredulous eyebrow. "I wasn't planning on it, they already tried killing me once."

"Really? How long have you been after these guys?" Harry hadn't heard the tale of Sam and Dean facing off with The Trickster before.

"A very long time," There was more to that statement than the Trickster was letting on, but Harry suspected the only answer he would get was a joke or empty space so he kept his mouth shut.

Harry frowned to himself and then blurted out. "What should I call you? I mean you're a Trickster and everything but I can't be calling you that all the time…unless you prefer that of course but…"  
The Trickster smirked and said "My friends call me Loki."

"Loki?" Harry said trying it out on his tongue.

"Sounds half dirty when you say it that way," The Trickster leered and swept his wavy hair back with his fingers.

Harry blushed and scowled. "Is your mind constantly in the gutter or is it just when you're around me?"

"Don't go thinking that you're sexier than you are Potter, you might get a big head," Loki leaned forward laying his elbows on the table between them. Harry felt his heart skip a beat at the predatory look in the Demi-Gods eyes but couldn't help but quip back.

"My head isn't the only thing that's big."

Loki smiled, not like the last time where it was all smirking and leering but a real smile that reached all the way to his caramel eyes and made them shine with something that wasn't all that human. Harry felt his breath hitch in his throat.

"You, are a mystery wrapped in the sexiest of packages. Little Wizard," Harry felt himself blushing despite himself before Loki stood and placed his thumb just underneath Harry's nose, where the dip of his upper lip was.(1) There was a tingle of familiarity in the gesture and then with a snap the other man was gone. Leaving behind the scent of refined sugar and rain.

(1) Gabriel selects souls from heaven to be birthed into the material world and informs the new person of what he or she will need to know on Earth, only to silence the child before birth by pressing his finger onto the child's lips, thus producing the cleft below a person's nose.


	8. Chapter 8

When Harry walked back up the stairs to the living room he still had a goofy smile on his face. Which, of course, Dean was the first to notice. "Hear from a special lady while you were working Harry?"

Harry blinked dazedly at the smirking man "What?"

Dean snickered and Sam turned from his work to smile lightly at him. "He was asking who put that look on your face. You look like your crush just gave you flowers or something."

Damn, Harry wished he could control his reflexive blushing . "Not a girl. Just…someone I didn't expect to see again," Harry touched his mouth, where Loki had touched him and leaned against the doorway between the hallway and living room.

"Wait, see? I thought there was only one door to the basement?" Dean asked standing from the couch to glance around him as if whoever had been with Harry would be making a quick exit through the front door.

"Wizard. Remember?" Harry quipped easily. It would be a very bad idea for either Winchester to find out about Loki coming to see him like that. They were still holding a grudge, not that Harry blamed them. But ever since he learned the truth about Severus Snape he found it hard to hold that much anger and resentment toward anyone. Plus keeping Dean and Sam guessing was fun.

Dean rolled his eyes and went back to the couch as Teddy came barreling through the front door around the living room, arms held wide as if he were flying. "Harry! Thanks for the chocolate frogs. My friends loved them," and zoomed back out and up the stairs before any of the adults could say anything.

Harry shook his head and did a double take, he didn't remember giving Teddy any chocolates.

There was soft feminine laughter from the doorway.

"Mione?" Harry asked as one of his oldest friends walked into the living room. "What are you doing here?"

"Hey Harry. I got a message from Luna about your latest project and Molly sent me over with Teddy to make sure you weren't working yourself into an early grave."

Harry frowned at her and crossed his arms over his chest. "I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself you know," he raised his nose in the air and blew out a puff of air to get the fringe out of his eyes.

"Everyone knows you'd be dead in a week if it weren't for us showing up and making you take a break." She flicked her hair over her shoulder haughtily.

Harry snorted and they both smiled. "Who are these two handsome gentlemen? Luna wasn't kidding when she said you were starting a harem."

"What? She said that?" Harry spluttered indignantly as everyone laughed.

"Good to know we made an impression. Dean Winchester, my brother Sam," Dean saluted then gestured with his chin to Sam.

"Hermione Granger. It's a pleasure. Now how long have you been down in that potions lab?" Hermione asked as she sat in one of the armchairs by the window.

"How do you know I've even been down there?" Harry huffed as he took a seat next to Dean.

"Dude. You reek," Dean said cringing and shifting away from him.

Hermione laughed and nodded as Harry looked down at himself realizing for the first time that the multiple times he had over heated the Asphodel had given him a very distinct smell. "Oh, right."

"So how long were you working on the funis vigo potion?" Hermione asked again once she had finished laughing at his misfortune.

Harry hesitated because he didn't honestly know how long he had been down in the lab.

"Three hours," Sam said noticing Harry's scrunched up confused face.

"Three hours?" Hermione asked incredulously, if she had been standing she would have had her hands on her hips, instead she just crossed them over her chest.

"I'll have you know that potion is really complex and it wasn't the only one I was working on, I have two of the others finished already. I just need to get the blood replenishers and muscle relaxants done before I start on the sleeping potions."

"Harry Potter spent three hours in a potions lab? Who were you hiding from?"

"Not that it's any of your business, but it was Sam, and I'm over it now so can we change the subject," Harry might not like to share but Hermione was like a Thestral with a fresh kill, no way was she giving up on that line of questioning until she knew Harry was alright.

"Fine," Hermione relented only because she could see the relieved look on Sam's face. "Why did you give Teddy an entire bag full of chocolate frogs?"

"I didn't?" Harry let the two words elongate so they were more like six. That was the second time that someone had mentioned that. Doubtless that Harry would have given Teddy some chocolate frogs for his play date with the Weasley crew but not an entire bag and he hadn't had the time to pick any up so he hadn't given him any on this trip.

"Well he got them from somewhere. every kid in the house was so pumped full of sugar there were magical children climbing all over the walls," She said with the reprimanding tone she usually reserved for Ron, and her own children.

"It wasn't us. Dean hoards his candy like a vampire does blood. No way he'd give up any of it, even if it were for a kid," Sam said grinning. Dean glared but didn't respond.

Harry cocked his head thinking but shrugged it off. It wasn't like it hurt anything.

They spent the next half hour talking about little things, jobs, family, hobbies. Just catching up. Until Hermione's watch started making a strange tinkling noise. "Darn, I have to get back. Seems the entire department is unable to survive more than three hours without me."

Harry laughed knowing full well that the other employees of the newest branch of the Ministry, Allocation and Reformation of Magical Individuals (ARMI), were really just enabling Hermione's workaholic nature. They did good work though, getting everything back in order after the war and making sure that displaced Witches and Wizards had places to feel safe.

"You do a great job with them 'Mione. Give my love to everyone for me will you?" They stood in the hallway, Hermione putting on her coat and pulling out the small dolphin figurine she used as her usually portkey too and from Harry's home.

"Of course. Don't you let yourself get too caught up in that lab. The outside world needs you too," Harry smiled and let Hermione embrace him. Even after so many years it still felt odd to have someone hold him like that.

"See you soon," He whispered as she pulled away and tapped her wand to the dolphin and was gone in a whirl of color.

Harry sighed and rolled his shoulders to relieve the tension that had suddenly settled between them. Harry walked back to the doorway he had been leaning on and cleared his throat. "Sam?"

Sam turned from whatever he had been talking about with his brother "Yeah?"

"I know that we need to talk and everything but like Dean said I reek and Teddy needs to get ready for bed. Do you feel like ordering in for dinner tonight? I'm not up for spending anymore time mixing ingredients."

Sam quirked a small smile. "Yeah, we'll figure out a late dinner you go do what you gotta do and we'll be here when you get back."

Harry nodded and left the brothers to make dinner plans.

Once up the stairs Harry looked into the first room on the right. Teddy's room. The kid was humming and his hair was the bright pink that usually came with giddy happiness and a very soon to come sugar induced coma. Looking in on him like this, so happy and carefree, was the kind of bitter sweet memory he never wanted to loose. "He's growing up Moony. Wish you could have been here to see it."

Teddy turned and grinned broadly at Harry before launching himself into a tight embrace.

Harry chuckled. This was one of the few people he didn't feel awkward hugging. It was like Teddy was a toddler again greedy for kisses and hugs and all manner of physical affection that Harry was all too willing to give in those few years it had only been the two of them. "What's this for?"

"I forgot to hug you when I got home," Teddy said. The simplicity of child logic always astounded Harry.

"I guess you did," Harry pulled back and looked at his Godson in the face. There was so much of his father there, but there was Tonks there too, in the shape of his eyes and the slope of his nose. But his eyes were always green, like Harry's. Harry never was sure what the original color was. Teddy had always had green eyes from the first day he held him in his arms all those years ago. Newborns weren't supposed to have such vivid eyes. But Metemorphogus were always breaking the rules like that.

"Why are you sad?" Teddy asked.

Harry hadn't realized he was tearing up until Teddy had mentioned it. Harry coughed slightly to relive the lump in his throat. "I'm not. It's just…Are you happy Ted?"

Teddy looked as if Harry had grown another head. "Yes! You always hug me, and you give me chocolate when I do my chores, and you're the greatest friend in the world since your helping Dean and Sam, and you make great spaghetti, and you saved THE WORLD!" The words were rushed and some of them were slurred together so much Harry barely understood them but the message was clear.

"I'm glad. Did you know that you living a Happy life was your dad's last wish?" Harry hadn't talked about Teddy's parent in a while, it wasn't that he didn't think about them but the grief wasn't as crushing now and life was usually too hectic to make a comment about them.

"You say that all the time. That's why I try to make you happy. No matter what," Teddy said smiling. Teddy had always said that whatever his dad would want for Teddy he would want for Harry too.

Harry let out an amused snort and ruffled the still bubblegum pink hair. "It's almost time for bed squirt. Get your stuff ready while I take a shower."

"Sure!" Teddy said enthusiastically as he ran off in the direction of his closet.

It took an hour for Harry to finish the bedtime routine with Teddy, forty-five minutes of which was spent chasing him around his room trying to get his pajamas on. But as soon as the little guy lay his head on the pillow he was yawning and only made it three pages into My First Owl.

Once downstairs, clean and exhausted, he flopped onto the couch where Sam was sitting arranging the small containers of Chinese food along the coffee table. Dean entered shortly after with plates, silverware and a bottle of Whiskey. Harry had a mind to comment on Dean being psychic, how else would he know that Alcohol would be needed for the coming conversation. "I grabbed a movie while I was out, hope you don't mind watching multiple explosions while you eat."

"No, go ahead."

Dean nodded as he handed Harry his plate and started dishing up. The atmosphere was light and friendly as they watched the movie, ate their dinner and took multiple shots of liquid courage. Harry was feeling more than buzzed halfway through the movie but didn't feel like disrupting the comfortable atmosphere. He was more than willing to wait a few more moments to have what was bound to be a very tense conversation.

It was near the end of the movie, when the action star was kissing the female lead, that Harry started talking, low enough that Sam and Dean could ignore it if they wanted to.

"My parent's loved me very much," Harry didn't look away from the screen, just talked and stared blankly ahead as he rolled the half full glass between his palms. "They sacrificed themselves to try and save me from a megolomaniac wizard. The only memory I have of them alive is my mothers dying screams.

"When they found me, I was lying on the floor. The entire nursery nothing but a gapping hole in the side of the house," Harry closed his eyes against the only memories he had of Godrics Hollow. The credits were rolling on the television screen and Dean had turned the volume down enough so that he could clearly hear Harry speak. "The people that had been hiding my parents took me to my closest living relatives. My mother's sister, her husband and their son. They knew about wizards of course but they were muggles. My mom the only witch in the family.

"Aunt Petunia hated my mother for being special. Hated me because I was her sister's son and because I had magic," Harry took a deep breath. This was something he hadn't ever voiced aloud before. Something that Ron and Hermione had only learned through half veiled comments and glimpses at his aunts house on Privet Drive. "M-my room was the cupboard under the stairs until I was eleven. All my clothes hand-me-downs from my cousin Dudley. He was the same age as me but he had a lot of problems with his weight as a kid," Harry laughed derisively "Felt like I was drowning in those clothes most of the time."

Harry felt a large calloused hand settle over his own and realized he was trembling slightly. Harry gulped down another shot of whiskey and continued once the burning subsided. Now that he had opened this can of worms he couldn't stop until it was all out. "I did most of the chores around the house, cooking cleaning, gardening, washing. I know now that a five year old shouldn't be scrubbing the kitchen floor with bleach, or a seven year old shouldn't be spraying the back lawn with Herbicide but I was only a kid. Trying everything I could to get some kind of affection. I remember the best being when they couldn't find anything to complain about. I remember feeling happy when they didn't talk to me at all," Harry leaned back into the couch and stared up at the ceiling, happy for the steady heat of Sam's hand on his knee.

"That went on until I got my letter for a magical boarding school. I thought it was the best thing to ever happen to me. Thing was, I was famous for what happened to me and my parents. I survived something no person had ever survived. It wasn't even me that had made it happen, it was my mum. She loved me so much, wanted to protect me so much, that her magic, even after she died, shielded me from The Killing Curse," Harry didn't know when he had moved his hand to clutch at Sam's but it gave him strength to keep back the worst of the memories.

"You guys will appreciate the need for anonymity. To blend in. That's what I had been doing for as long I can remember and then I change schools and worlds and everyone in this new place knows me, knows more about my past than even I do.

"I didn't do well those first few weeks. Children staring at me, vying for my attention. Hell I even think that one of my best friends only started talking to me because he was in awe of me."

Ron didn't know that Harry remembered that first comment about his scar like a slice to the gut. Something that always had Harry keeping his best friend at a distance. Same with Hermione. He knew that none of that mattered now, especially after all the death they had seen together, but he still wanted to keep the illusion of being at least semi-normal for them, as much as he could in the circumstances anyway.

Harry couldn't keep talking. His throat and eyes hurt from keeping back tears and he was feeling foolish for letting himself go like this. He decided to blame it all on the alcohol.

Harry jumped slightly when Dean spoke and felt Sam squeeze his hand comfortingly. "My last memory of my mom is her burning alive on the ceiling of Sammy's nursery. She was pinned there, blood dripping onto the crib as Dad looked up at her. I backed away into the hallway before Dad saw me, I didn't want dad to get mad at me," Dean laughed derisively at his younger self. "Then Dad was there with me, Sam in his arms, crying. He screamed for me to get Sammy out of there. It took me a long time for me to realize that Mom wasn't coming back."

"You never told me that," Sam whispered staring at his brother. "You never told me you saw her."

"I never told anyone. I didn't know how to say it out loud and then with it happening to Jessica too, I couldn't really remind you of that."

There was silence for a time, Sam squeezing Harry's hand as both brother too began to tear up. Dean scrubbed his hand over his face ridding himself of the impulses to cry, before standing and sitting on the other side of Harry, pulling the now empty glass from Harry's numb fingers. Harry by this point was gasping, sobbing, and cursing the alcohol and trying really hard to stop crying because this is just ridiculous.

"Come on, lets get to bed. We could all use a good nights sleep."

It took a lot of effort and more than a few bumps and bruises for Harry to finally make it to his bed with the help of both the Winchesters. Sam on one side, Dean on the other. "I'm glad you tried to kill my friend," Harry mumbled into his pillow. It wasn't exactly what he intended to say but he was sure they'd understand.

"We are too, Harry," Sam said running his fingers through Harry's hair lightly. Sam's smile the last thing he saw before he fell into sleep.


	9. Loki Outtake

Loki was something of an expert on souls, being able to see the true intent behind every mortals action was useful in learning the ins and outs of the bright little things that made mortals what they were. The Winchester's for example were young but full to bursting with light. Made to be everyday hero's. Saving one person at a time over their lifetime, hundreds or even thousands all the better for their efforts. Not to say that they didn't sin, that there wasn't darkness in there, but every human had them and it seemed to make the two of them shine all the brighter for it. He always thought that they didn't deserve the fate that awaited them in the not to distant future, but he wasn't one to interfere.

Harry though was a totally different story. Old in more ways than any mortal could know. He'd seen the after life at least twice before and he'd faced war more times that some pagan Gods had. Loki knew because he recognized that soul. It took a while to realize that it was Her. But after the realization hit him it was hard to see how he'd missed it.

Strong, kind, brave, self-sacrificing leader of a war that could have ripped apart whole countries.

There was no mistaking it. Joan de Arc. The Lady he had once whispered the secrets of the universe to so long ago.

She didn't have real magic back then, but she did have an angel whispering in her ear that helped her slay her enemies. So many similarities between them. Not to mention the feelings that Loki had for the soul encapsulated within all that mortal flesh.

It was probably a mistake to touch Harry the way he had. Pressing the place he had touched the first mortals to guide them back to heaven. The same place he had touched Her just before he was told to retreat, to allow the burning, allow her martyrdom.

It was strange that they should meet again when the soul knew him but the flesh didn't. Odd to know that she was the reason he had walked away from his past and the reason he was pulled into all of it again. Fitting almost.

Loki sighed as his thoughts spiraling around in melancholic spirals. He usually didn't indulge in the angst that attached itself to thoughts of the past but Harry seemed to have that effect on people, if the Winchesters were anything to go by.


End file.
